From AG tells High Court that Ben-Hamo is ineligible to lead Sde Teiman leak probe; Levin says he suspects court meddling in investigation
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Justice Minister Yariv Levin and the Attorney General’s Office submit conflicting opinions to the High Court of Justice regarding the viability of Levin’s pick to lead the investigation into the leak of surveillance footage from the Sde Teiman military facility.
Levin, in his response to the court, says that his choice, retired district court judge Yosef Ben-Hamo, meets the court’s criteria, while the Attorney General’s Office argues that he does not and asks for the appointment to be overruled.
Levin announced Ben-Hamo’s appointment to head the probe last week, following a ruling by the High Court of Justice that allowed him to choose an overseer of the probe provided the appointee was a senior public servant, which Ben-Hamo is not.
A subsequent court ruling temporarily stayed Ben-Hamo’s appointment.
Now, Levin submits a response in which a member of the Civil Service Commission is cited as saying that Ben-Hamo does meet the court’s criteria, which requires the person overseeing the probe to have no political affiliation, be an expert in legal affairs, and have a job closely connected to criminal investigations or prosecutions.
Critics have charged that, in addition to not being a senior public servant, Ben-Hamo is ineligible as he has ties to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and lacks the requisite criminal law expertise.
Echoing these arguments, the Attorney General’s Office tells the court that there were “fundamental flaws” in the process through which Justice Minister Yariv Levin appointed Ben-Hamo to lead the investigation, and asks that it overturn the appointment.
Ben-Hamo, it says, “does not meet the conditions of the High Court’s ruling and he is not a civil servant.”
Levin, in his response, tells the court that the longer it delays Ben-Hamo’s appointment, the stronger the suspicion grows that it is interfering in the investigation.
“Every passing hour increases the fear that the investigation will be disrupted by those involved in the affair,” the justice minister says, warning of “irreversible evidentiary damage and the endangerment of the ability to investigate the truth.”
“History will judge those who acted to investigate the truth and who acted with a conflict of interest, thwarted, disrupted, postponed, and delayed the investigation of the truth,” he adds.
The Times of Israel Community.