Committee members with close ties to PM resign
Iris Stark and Yaakov Nagel who are close associates of Netanyahu withdraw from Advisory Committee for the Appointment of Senior Officials following a petition filed with the High Court of Justice against their membership due to conflict of interest.
The HCJ's decision stemmed from concern over the close ties between Stark and Nagel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which could influence their nomination of the next Israel Police commissioner.
However, according to Stark, she withdrew from the committee due to her position as president of the Institute of certified public accountants in Israel and her desire to devote her time to it.
Netanyahu will need to appoint two public servants to replace Nagel and Stark.
The committee will also review Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman's choice to replace Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot as well as possible candidates to replace Bank of Israel governor Karnit Flug.
Stark said she joined the committee to fulfill her public mission and to contribute to the decision-making process significant to the economy and society.
"I'm very glad I was chosen (to be a member of the committee). Nevertheless, I consider it to be a great responsibility that requires a lot of energy and resources in order to perform significant changes effecting Israel's accountants.
The Tenuah L’tohar Hamedot (Movement for Integrity) NGO which filed the petition with the HJC against Stark and Nagel's membership in the committee issued a statement saying, "Accountant Stark and Brig. Gen. (Res.) Nagel did wisely by assimilating the remarks of the HJC's judges and choosing to resign from the Goldberg Committee before receiving the court's verdict obligating them to do so.
"It is unfortunate the Attorney General and the State Attorney's Office were harnessed to protect such inappropriate appointments to a committee which is responsible to review candidate for the most important positions in the public sector," the statement read.
"One must hope that in the future it will be clear to the decision-makers that the prime minister's representatives cannot serve as the public's representatives as well," the statement concluded.
HCJ Justice Menachem Mazuz slammed last week Stark and Nagel, noting that the committee’s job is to examine the integrity and ethics of the candidates running for Israel’s most important positions.
Mazuz added that “Since the prime minister is likely to have an interest in the identity of the police commissioner who is expected to be appointed soon, he cannot be involved in the proceedings related to the appointment of the committee that has to approve the appointment of the commissioner.
“This is not an empty role. In the past, there have been complaints about candidates for the commissioner … Public representatives must be people who don’t have an affiliation or obligation to the government and over whom the government has no influence,” Mazuz elaborated.
