3 candidates shortlisted for next attorney general, including favorite Baharav-Miara

The search committee to find a new attorney general announced on Sunday the names of the final three candidates, which it will hand to Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar, appearing to set the stage for former Tel Aviv district attorney for civil affairs Gali Baharav-Miara becoming the first woman to serve in the role.

The other two nominees are Roi Scheindorf, the current deputy attorney general for international law, and Defense Ministry legal adviser Itai Ofir.

Some analysts were surprised that Raz Nizri, the current deputy attorney general for constitutional affairs, was left out.

Sa’ar now will, within a week, pick one of them to succeed Avichai Mandelblit, who has spent the past six years in the role, pending government approval.

Speaking at a conference hosted by the Calcalist business news website last month, Sa’ar said that, to his mind, Baharav-Miara is the most suitable and skilled candidate for the role, adding that it is “completely unreasonable that a woman never served as attorney general.”

Mandelblit ends his term on Monday night, with State Prosecutor Amit Aisman set to serve as acting attorney general until a permanent replacement enters office.

ועדת בוחנים במכרז פומבי בניהול נציבות שירות המדינה בחרה היום בעו"ד איתי אופיר לתפקיד היועץ המשפטי למער' הביטחון וראש אגף היועמ"ש במשהב"ט. pic.twitter.com/VmdGuruZO4

— משרד הביטחון (@MoDIsrael) March 20, 2017

סערת התובעת בהאג | הד"ר רועי שיינדורף, המשנה ליועמ"ש בתחום המשפט הבינלאומי, אומר ל-@efitriger: "מן הראוי שהשופטים ידחו את בקשת התובעת בהאג, אבל גם אם יוחלט על פתיחת חקירה, נעמוד מול האתגר ונתמודד"
(צילום: אריק סולטן, הארץ) pic.twitter.com/qeuSaE8a17

— גלצ (@GLZRadio) December 22, 2019

The selection committee is headed by former Supreme Court chief justice Asher Grunis, and includes former justice minister Dan Meridor, New Hope MK Zvi Hauser, Israel Bar Association representative Tami Ulman, and law professor Ron Shapira, the president of the Peres Academic Center.

Israeli cabinet ministers on Sunday bade farewell to Mandelblit, who will end six years in office on Monday night.

In his parting remarks, Mandelblit took a thinly veiled swipe at the man who appointed him and whom he put on trial for corruption — former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who in his latter years of office repeatedly attacked the police, the state prosecutors and the judiciary.

“There were those who tried to present the harm [they sought to cause] to the rule of law as an ideological move, under the pretext of ‘governance,’” he said. “But time and time again, we saw that what really stood behind these moves was a desire to advance personal interests, severely damaging the principle of fidelity to the public.”

Whoever is selected to replace Mandelblit will have several high-profile cases to deal with. They include the whereabouts of state gifts given to Benjamin Netanyahu that the former premier was ordered to return; a gift of $20,000 that an Australian billionaire gave to ex-Mossad chief Yossi Cohen; and the alleged harassment of state’s witness Shlomo Filber by two Netanyahu aides.

The new appointee will also have to determine whether and how to proceed with negotiations on a plea bargain for Netanyahu, who is on trial in three graft cases and whose lawyers negotiated with Mandeblit, reportedly coming close to a deal, in recent weeks.

Sa’ar has been seeking to split the attorney general job into two, with one person serving as the government’s legal adviser and another as chief state attorney. He and other conservative critics have argued that the dual role creates a conflict of interest, as the attorney general is tasked with overseeing the prosecution of members of the government whose moves he is also charged with defending.

Mandelblit appeared to strongly denounce Sa’ar’s proposal to split the role in October as a threat to democracy.

Previous attempts to split the role were widely seen as motivated by political or personal interests, since they typically came from governments whose then-prime ministers were facing criminal indictment — including Ehud Olmert in 2007-2008, and Benjamin Netanyahu several years ago.