Cabinet approves new members of high-level appointments panel

The government approves the appointment of two new public representatives to the committee that vets appointees to the most senior public service positions, putting the selection of new heads for the Israel Police and the IDF back on track.

Talia Einhorn is a law professor at Ariel University and is on the faculty of Tel Aviv University.

Moshe Tery served as chairman of the Israel Securities Authority from 2002 to 2008. He has also served as general manager of the Israel Postal Authority and director of the Israel Airport Authority.

Their appointments are unanimously approved by ministers. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly refrained from voting in order to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest in the appointments.

Einhorn and Tery were tipped to join the panel following last month’s resignations of former national security adviser Yaakov Nagel and Iris Shtark, a noted accountant.

The High Court of Justice had ordered a freeze on all proceedings of the four-person committee headed by Eliezer Goldberg, a former Supreme Court justice and state comptroller, following an appeal by the Movement for Integrity watchdog group, which had insisted that both Nagel and Shtark were too close to Netanyahu.

The Goldberg Committee is charged with examining any ethical difficulties that arise in the choice of appointees to the heads of key state agencies, including the IDF, Israel Police, Mossad, Shin Bet and Bank of Israel.

— Stuart Winer