Top justice official Nizri quits over disappointment at being left out of AG race

Raz Nizri, the deputy attorney general for constitutional affairs, has announced he is leaving the Justice Ministry after being left off of a shortlist of candidates to become attorney general.

Nizri writes that he was caught off-guard, “like many others who were quite surprised (I’m choosing not to use other words that dozens of people from inside and externally wrote to me) by the fact that I was not included in the three candidates recommended by the panel.”

Raz Nizri, deputy attorney general, during a House Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, May 21, 2019 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

On Sunday, the race to replace Avichai Mandelblit entered the final stretch with the search committee tasked with finding a new attorney general announcing the names of the final three candidates: Gali Baharav-Miara, Roi Scheindorf, the current deputy attorney general for international law; and Defense Ministry legal adviser Itai Ofir.

Earlier Monday, Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar tapped Baharav-Miara, the former Tel Aviv district attorney for civil affairs, for the role, pending Knesset approval.

Nizri says he will depart within two months.