Knesset advances bill easing way for ministers’ associates to head government companies

By Sam Sokol 17 December 2025, 12:15 pm

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

MK Nissim Vaturi speaks during a committee meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem on, August 4, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Knesset votes 46-40 to advance a bill proposed by Likud MK Nissim Vaturi that would permit associates of ministers to be appointed as heads of government companies without needing “special qualifications.”

The bill, approved in a preliminary reading, will now be sent to the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee for preparation for the first of three readings needed for it to pass into law.

Under the current system, the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee will only recommend the appointment of an individual associated with a minister to head a government firm if they have “special qualifications” — which are not required of other candidates.

In its explanatory notes, Vaturi’s bill states that it “is intended to correct an injustice of many years that harms the freedom of occupation and equality of a candidate who is politically active.”

Over the summer, the Attorney General’s Office expressed opposition to the bill, with Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara arguing in a letter to Justice Minister Yariv Levin that the current law protects against a candidate being appointed “due to his connections.”

The new bill, she wrote, “seriously harms the integrity of appointments to government companies, as well as appointments to various public corporations.”

The attorney general added that the bill was part of a range of legislative steps that “politicize” the civil service, thereby harming its professionalism and quality.