Movement for Quality Government says there is ‘grave concern’ that justice minister Ohana appointed Orly Ginsberg Ben-Ari to target law enforcement system on behalf of Netanyahu
A High Court petition was filed Wednesday against Justice Minister Amir Ohana’s pick for acting state prosecutor, arguing that he may have been guided by political motives in nominating a relatively junior official for the post.
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has already come out against the appointment of Orly Ginsberg Ben-Ari as the replacement for state attorney Shai Nitzan, saying that Ohana overstepped the bounds of his caretaker position in picking her.
In its petition, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, a good governance group, expressed “grave concern that appointing [Ginsburg Ben-Ari to the] role of interim state attorney is extremely unreasonable and is entirely driven by external considerations.”
There are indications, the petition claimed, that the appointment was made out of considerations about “the gatekeepers and elements of the law-enforcement system pertaining to and related to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s investigations.”
Ohana is a staunch ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing criminal graft charges drawn up by Nitzan. Both Ohana and Netanyahu have launched scathing attacks on the State Prosecutor’s Office and other law enforcement bodies, accusing them of a conspiracy to topple the prime minister with false corruption charges.
Movement for Quality Government head Eliad Shraga described Ohana’s move as problematic.
“In the middle of a legal proceeding conducted by the Prosecutor’s Office against defendant Netanyahu, who appointed Minister Ohana to his post for this very specific purpose — namely to execute targeted liquidation of the State Attorney’s Office — he appoints a person who does not have the skills required to perform that role,” he said in a statement.
The left-wing Democratic Camp party also intends to file a petition against the appointment, the Kan public broadcaster reported.
Mandelblit, who in the past reportedly said he might use legal means to stop Ohana’s actions, is not planning on filling a petition himself for the time being, preferring to wait and see the outcome of legal action taken by others, Kan reported. However, he reportedly will not defend the appointment in court.
The attorney general said Tuesday there was a “legal impediment” to Ohana’s pick earlier in the day of Ginsberg Ben-Ari as interim state prosecutor, arguing it was beyond the scope of what is permissible for an acting minister in a transitional government and thus “unreasonable.”
He later met with Ginsberg Ben-Ari and said his opposition to the appointment was not personal, Channel 13 news reported.
“This isn’t a personal matter against you, but rather a matter of the [legal] system,” the report quoted him as saying.
The network also said unnamed members of the State Attorney’s Office were pressing Ginsberg Ben-Ari to withdraw her candidacy.
Ginsberg Ben-Ari has worked in the State Prosecutor’s Office for 28 years in a number of senior positions. She has extensive experience in the criminal and security fields and currently serves as head of the State Prosecutor’s Security Forum.
Mandelblit had reportedly rejected most candidates put forward by Ohana, including Ginsberg Ben-Ari, only giving approval to Deputy State Attorney for Criminal Matters Shlomo Lemberger to fill in for Nitzan, whose six-year term as state prosecutor ended Monday.
Ohana stressed in an interview with Channel 12 that he was not seeking a face-off with Mandelblit and had tried to win the attorney general’s backing for his appointee, but that Mandelblit was being “extremely unreasonable.”
“It will be a mistake if the attorney general doesn’t change his opinion,” he said Tuesday.
The justice minister also indicated he was prepared to defend the appointment if it is petitioned in the High Court of Justice.
“I don’t intend to bow my head to someone who is not authorized to decide on this appointment,” Ohana said.
The developments come amid a current political stalemate, which has left Israel without a properly elected government for nearly a year and with Ohana himself serving only in an interim capacity. Two rounds of elections in April and September failed to produce a ruling coalition or unity government. The Knesset dissolved again last week and third elections are set for March 2, 2020.
Normally, a new state attorney is selected by a special committee appointed by the justice minister and headed by the attorney general, the direct superior of the state prosecutor. The attorney general is usually given freedom to choose the candidate. But Mandelblit has said that since Ohana is only serving in a caretaker government he does not have the authority to form the committee. Instead, Ohana is only authorized to appoint an acting state attorney whose tenure must be extended every three months.
Netanyahu is facing indictments of fraud and breach of trust in three corruption cases, and a charge of bribery in one of the cases.
Also Tuesday, Channel 13 television news reported that Ginsberg Ben-Ari had a beef with her predecessor Nitzan which led to her referring to him as “Hitler.”
Justice Ministry sources said that Ginsberg Ben-Ari had clashed with Nitzan in the past over a murder trial leading to her blaming him for blocking her appointment to the position of district prosecutor.
The spat revolved around information that came to light six years after the murder conviction, which might have helped the defendant but was kept from him, the sources said. Details of the case are barred from publication under a gag order.
The incident caused Nitzan to withdraw support for her promotion to district attorney. Ever since, the sources said, Ginsberg Ben-Ari has been disgruntled, and on several occasions referred to Nitzan as “Hitler” and “al-Qaeda,” a reference to the Nazi Germany WWII leader and the more recent jihadist terror group, respectively.
As reported by The Times of Israel