“Appointing a person at the heart of a disciplinary investigation to the position of acting civil service commissioner creates a severe conflict of interest”
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel today, Thursday 29 May, wrote to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the attorney general, and the acting legal advisor to the Prime Minister’s Office, demanding that they stop the appointment of Mr. Yehuda Cohen, the director general of the chief rabbinate, to the position of acting civil service commissioner.
The Movement states in its letter that the position of civil service commissioner is one of the most important positions in the public sector, as the commissioner is responsible for all civil servants and serves as the most senior human resources official in the civil service. The commissioner holds administrative and statutory powers in various areas, and plays a critical role in all matters relating to the approval of senior appointments in the public service, determining the working conditions of civil servants, recruitment, training, promotion and dismissal of employees, and discipline and ethics.
According to reports, in recent months the civil service commission has been conducting an undercover investigation against Mr. Cohen himself, including allegations by employees of harassment and serious irregularities. In addition, Mr. Cohen faces other suspicions including that, while serving as head of the appointed council in Buq’ata, he refrained from declaring a conflict of interest regarding the appointment of a legal advisor with whom he had close ties.
The Movement emphasizes that the proposed appointment deviates from the settled case law of the Supreme Court, which determined that, in view of the characteristics of the civil service commissioner’s role as a “gatekeeper”, his appointment is conditional on the establishment of a permanent appointment mechanism that will be based on a competitive process. Continuing to fill the position through temporary or acting appointees is inconsistent with this fundamental principle, and with the court’s ruling on the matter.
In addition, the movement claims that the prime minister violated his duty to consult with the attorney general according to the interpretation given to Section 23A(b) of the Civil Service (Appointments) Law, when instead he only contacted the acting legal advisor to the Prime Minister’s Office. This interpretation of the law has been adopted in practice in the past, and this duty was even recently clarified to the prime minister by the attorney general.
The Movement warns that if Mr. Cohen is appointed to the position, he will not be qualified to exercise all of his powers, and in particular his powers relating to the field of standards in public life, given the disciplinary investigation underway into him. Also, given his role as a member of the advisory committee for senior appointments, his appointment could have far-reaching implications for the appointment of other senior civil servants, particularly with regard to the appointment of the next head of the Shin Bet.
Adv. Stav Livne Lahav, head of the policy and legislation department at the Movement for Quality Government in Israel: “Appointing a person who is under disciplinary investigation to the position of civil service commissioner seriously violates the principles of integrity and good governance and creates a situation in which the cat is left to guard the cream. The Movement will continue to use all the tools at its disposal to prevent an unlawful appointment to the position of commissioner and to demand that an appropriate competitive process be held to fill this important position with a permanent appointment.
