Bucking AG, PM moves to adopt new procedure for appointing civil service commissioner

The government is slated to approve a new procedure for appointing the civil service commissioner on Sunday, rejecting objections raised by the Attorney General’s Office in an aim to give the premier greater say over the process, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announces.

In a statement, the PMO says that Netanyahu “will bring his proposal to appoint the next civil service commissioner just as the defense minister appoints the IDF chief of staff — by way of an examination of the candidate by the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee to the Civil Service.”

In the case of the IDF chief of staff, the defense minister recommends a candidate to the prime minister who then presents them to the cabinet for approval, and then “is brought to the Advisory Committee on Public Appointments chaired by a retired judge, which examines the appointee’s fitness in terms of integrity only,” according to the Institute for National Security Studies.

The PMO’s announcement explicitly references a cabinet meeting held in June during which ministers assailed a deputy attorney general for insisting that — in keeping with current practice — the next civil service commissioner must be appointed through a committee, and rejecting the government’s request that the prime minister appoint the commissioner directly.

Their objections came after Gali Baharav-Miara wrote to Prime Minister Benjamin to state that the role, which involves supervising civil servants, must be approved by a search committee headed by a retired Supreme Court justice, citing a 2018 government decision that was made to ensure the position’s independence. However, the process is not enshrined in legislation and was recently rejected by the government.