PM scraps vote on head for key civil service panel amid coalition opposition – report

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly decided that the cabinet will not vote on the appointment of a retired Supreme Court justice as chairman of a commission that vets candidates for some of the country’s key civil service positions, amid opposition from within the coalition.

Ministers from the far-right Religious Zionism party and the ultra-Orthodox Shas party have said they will vote against the appointment of Uri Shoham as chairman of the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee. The position comes with an eight-year term.

The Kan public broadcaster reports that the vote has been delayed until an “unknown date.”

Religious Zionism is reportedly unhappy with the entire framework in which the committee can block a government appointment, while Shas has gripes against Shoham over his past efforts to oust Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef.