In U-turn, AG approves justice minister’s pick for interim state attorney

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced on Wednesday that he will not oppose Justice Minister Amir Ohana’s selection for acting state attorney.

The decision to back the candidacy of Dan Eldad marked a reversal for Mandelblit, who had opposed the appointment for reasons that were not made clear.

Eldad currently serves as the director of the Economic Crimes Division of the State Prosecution, which specializes in investigating and prosecuting high-level corruption in government and large corporations. It is also responsible for the most complex cases of financial fraud.

“In my capacity as head of the law enforcement system, I decided — not without hesitation — that in the current state of affairs, the public interest in preventing further injury to the State Attorney’s Office requires that I not oppose my appointment of Attorney Eldad for the time being,” the attorney general said in a letter to the State Attorney’s Office.

The state attorney position became vacant when Shai Nitzan concluded his five-year term in December.

Ohana’s last attempt to appoint an acting state attorney — choosing Tel Aviv District economic crimes prosecutor Orly Ginsberg Ben-Ari in December — fell through when Ginsberg Ben-Ari withdrew her candidacy following a firestorm of criticism at her selection, including by the attorney general.

Mandelblit had insisted Ohana’s authority to appoint key officials was limited because he served as a caretaker justice minister in an unelected government. Ohana was appointed to his post by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in June, after the indecisive April election and ahead of the equally indecisive September race.

Mandelblit initially opposed Eldad’s appointment, Hebrew media outlets reported earlier this week, though the reasoning for his opposition was not immediately clear. According to the Calcalist paper, Mandelblit offered Ohana seven names of candidates acceptable to him, which did not include Eldad.

Mandelblit suggested Ohana appoint one of the state attorney’s currently serving deputies to the temporary post, and said his preference was Deputy State Attorney for Criminal Law Shlomo Lamberger, the longest-serving member of that echelon.

Ohana, meanwhile, has insisted that Mandelblit’s opposition to his appointments was an example of the runaway powers of the state legal bureaucracy, which he says should not flout the will of elected officials.

Likud’s Ohana, a loyalist of Netanyahu, took office by launching a scathing diatribe against the state prosecution in defense of the premier, who has been charged by Mandelblit with bribery, fraud and breach of trust.