High Court rejects Levin’s 2nd request to have ombudsman oversee Sde Teiman probe

The High Court of Justice rejects a second request by Justice Minister Yariv Levin to allow him to appoint State Ombudsman for Judges Asher Kula as supervisor over the investigation into the former military advocate general and the Sde Teiman video leak affair.

The court had already ruled he could not take the post due to explicit stipulations in the law that the state ombudsman for judges may have no other role.

Levin sent what he called a “clarification” to the court last week saying he could not find anyone who met the court’s criteria to appoint as supervisor, and asked the court to let him appoint Kula, provided he take a temporary leave from his position.

In its decision on Levin’s request, the High Court says there exists no procedure in the court for a “clarification.” The court says further that Levin was actually asking for a “pre-ruling” on whether Kula could serve in the position if he took temporary leave, but says that the court does not issue what amounts to “legal position papers” on “future administrative actions.”

Even if these procedural issues were not a problem, the court says that the obligations on the state ombudsman for judges apply even if he is on leave, including the prohibition on him not serving in any other role.

The court ends by telling Levin that if he cannot find an investigation supervisor he can request that the High Court appoint one for him, as the court already said in a previous decision on the issue.

“Due to the urgency and importance of the appointment of a supervisor for the investigation, which the respondent [Levin] has himself asserted in his request, it would seem that if the respondent desires to make such a request he should do so as soon as possible,” the court tells the justice minister.

The Israel Democracy Guard organization, which petitioned the court against Kula’s original appointment, welcomes what it says is the court’s decision to “draw a line for the justice minister’s efforts to distort, to outsmart, and to change the court’s ruling, after the fact,” and says the organization “expects the justice minister to now cease his efforts to intervene in the investigation of the military advocate general affair, and his efforts to artificially tar the attorney general with criminal allegations.”