Ministers back bills giving government ‘sole discretion’ over senior appointments

Ministerial Committee for Legislation pushes off decisions on proposals to cancel Oslo Accords, bar immigration and citizenship for non-Orthodox converts

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation voted on Sunday to back a pair of bills giving government ministers “sole discretion” over the selection of candidates for senior appointments, including the attorney general and heads of the Shin Bet and Mossad security agencies.

“The government holds full and exclusive authority to appoint or refrain from appointing a person to a senior position in the civil service,” the legislation’s explanatory notes stated, adding that the terms of such officials “shall terminate within 100 days” of the formation of a new government, unless extended — and that the government would have the power to remove senior officials “at any time at its sole discretion.”

Among the positions affected by the bills are those of the IDF chief of staff, police inspector general, Shin Bet and Mossad chiefs, Prison Service head, civil service commissioner, and attorney general, as well as directors general of government ministries, and other senior officials.

The approval of the bills came despite strong opposition from the Office of the Attorney General, which has stated that they would unacceptably politicize government.

“The time has come for an elected government to be able to work with public officials who are committed to its policy,” and this legislation is an “important step” on the way to “restoring governance,” Justice Minister Yariv Levin said in a statement.

Should the bills pass into law — which requires them to pass three readings in the Knesset — a government-appointed eligibility committee will be responsible for vetting nominees for senior appointments. The appointments would then be approved by a Knesset panel made up of two coalition and two opposition lawmakers, and a chairman selected by the entire parliament, effectively giving the governing coalition total control of the process.

The new procedures would also replace the current system for choosing the attorney general, whom the coalition had tried unsuccessfully to remove from office.

The sponsor of the bills, Likud MK Shalom Danino, declared on Sunday that their intent “is to establish an orderly process for appointing senior officials” and that, as members of the executive branch, “the power of dismissal is an inherent part of the government’s constitutional authority to manage the executive branch and the government apparatus.”

However, Deputy Attorney Gil Limon told the committee that “the bill inherently creates an extremely dangerous incentive for officeholders who hold critical powers to act in favor of personal or political interests instead of acting in favor of the public interest, thereby seriously harming fundamental democratic values ​​as well as the public’s trust in… the public service,” the Calcalist news site reported.

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation’s backing of Danino’s bills followed its approval of several similar pieces of legislation advanced by coalition MKs over the past year.

Last October, it voted to back a pair of controversial bills intended to give the government greater control over senior appointments, despite the Attorney General’s Office warning that, if passed, the legislation would harm the public and “turn government companies into a pool of jobs for appointing associates.”

This came several months after ministers came out in support of legislation allowing an incoming government to fire senior security officials and public officers within its first 100 days in office, and significantly eroding the authority of the attorney general over the legal advisers to government ministries.

The committee on Sunday also backed a pair of coalition bills creating “a relatively fast planning track” for new settlements and allowing the government to sidestep the need for permits in establishing such settlements “when there is a national strategic need” — as well as a bill providing affirmative action for members of Israel’s Druze minority.

The committee, however, did not back a proposed bill to repeal the Oslo Accords or a proposal by Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman that would invalidate the legitimacy of non-Orthodox conversions in the context of potential immigration and citizenship.