AG: Premier’s appointment of acting civil service chief ‘unreasonable in the extreme’

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara tells Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his pick for acting civil service commissioner does not meet the criteria for the position and that, as a result, there is a legal impediment to making the appointment.

The attorney general’s statement is the latest in a long series of positions she has taken against the current government, arousing the ire of much of the cabinet and prompting efforts by government ministers to oust her from her job.

In a position paper written by Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon on behalf of Baharav-Miara, Limon tells Netanyahu that attorney Roi Kahlon does not have adequate management experience and that his appointment is therefore “unreasonable in the extreme” — a standard by which the High Court of Justice can reverse administrative decisions should the issue reach the court.

“He does not meet the qualification conditions,” writes Limon, adding that “his appointment to the position will not comply with the necessary professional standards for the position.”

In particular, Limon notes that Kahlon does not have sufficient senior managerial experience to qualify him for the job. He also points out that Kahlon claimed in his resume to have far greater managerial experience than he actually has.

Limon nevertheless says that his position “should not detract from the importance of his [Kahlon’s] role in the State Attorney’s Office and the civil service.

The deputy attorney general ends his position paper by asserting that Netanyahu is required to give “significant weight” to the attorney general’s position when making the appointment, adding that, since there is a “substantive gap” between the requirements for the job of civil service commissioner and Kahlon’s experience, “this appointment would be unreasonable in the extreme,” and that “for these reasons there is a legal impediment to carrying out this appointment.”

Kahlon began his public service with a 15-year stint at the State Attorney’s Office, during which time he served for six years as an attorney for the attorney general and was also the supervisor for discipline in the Civil Service Commission. He also spent four years as head of the economic crime team.

Last year, he was appointed as head of the team at the Prime Minister’s Office, combating an epidemic of violent crime rocking Arab communities.