High Court judge pans minister for texting him to try and influence decision on new antiquities authority chief

In a highly unusual move, far-right Heritage Minister Amichay Elyahu sent a WhatsApp message yesterday to High Court Justice Yechiel Meir Kasher asking him not to halt the appointment of a new director-general for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), Kasher reveals in a court document.

“Halting the appointment process at this time would impair our ability to make even modest improvements to government statutory organizations as the law mandates us to do,” reads the text from Eliyahu. “Therefore, given that the system itself has established a committee to review our process, I respectfully ask your honor to help safeguard our right — and our duty — to implement the policy for which we were elected.”

“Contacting the court in this manner is not the proper way to submit a position, and therefore I intend to ignore it,” Kasher writes.

Last week, close to 60 Israeli archaeologists presented an urgent petition to the court urging it to block Eliyahu’s appointment of Esti Shreiber as the new IAA head. The petitioners stated both that the procedure was inconsistent with the legal requirements and that Schreiber inflated her resume to meet the criteria.

According to the petition, Eliyahu had demanded that the IAA Council, which must approve the appointment, review it at a meeting scheduled for today. An archaeologist familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel the meeting has been canceled.

In his update to the court about Eliyahu’s text, Kasher also writes that at this stage he does not see a reason to issue a temporary order blocking Shreiber’s appointment and that the respondents — who include Eliyahu, the IAA and Shreiber — have until July 16 to reply to the petition against the government pick.