MK Hanegbi: Nothing wrong with political nominations
Former environment minister takes stand in Jerusalem Magistrate's Court, testifies in case probing alleged political nominations during his tenure
Knesset Member Tzachi Hanegbi (Kadima) testified Sunday in the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court hearing regarding alleged illicit political nominations during his tenure as environment ministry.
In his testimony, Hanegbi was asked if he found anything wrong with the fact that numerous Likud members approached him in order to secure jobs. "I saw nothing wrong with the practice… It was a widely spread custom even before I became a minister."
Hangebi went on to tell the court that many of the party's members asked him id he could pass on résumés and that overall, he felt "they were trying to help their children. Personally, I found this to be a good thing, that people thought working for the State is a good thing."
Once approached, he added, he would explain to whom ever asked him to help that nothing could be done to circumvent a position's requirements, or to eliminate the competition: "I didn't always know what the requirements for every position were, but I knew there was no getting around them," he told the court.
Hanegbi's attorney, Jacob Weinroth, told the court that "prior to an attorney general directive in the matter, no one ever thought that a minister cannot take part in the various nominations in his ministry." Hanegbi's actions, added Weinroth were not at all covert, and no one was trying to hide his involvement in certain nominations.
The Likud, Hanegbi told the court, was the mirror image of Israeli society "colors, shades, warts and all"; and that he developed tight friendships with many of the party members over the years.
When asked if he was aware of any of the other ministers involvement in the various nominations in their offices, Hanegbi said he had no doubt that all of them received similar requests. Any such plea, he added, would not have been made directly to him, but rather through his aides.
"If someone would have told me this was an illicit practice I would have put a stop to it, but the way it was done made it into nothing more that an trivial matter," he concluded.
