Replacement theory: 6 things to know for July 24

1. Ouster? You barely know her! Justice Minister Amir Ohana is facing heavy fire over his decision to push out ministry director Emi Palmor, in what critics are calling a politically motivated move.

• Ohana’s move makes major headlines nearly across the board Tuesday night and Wednesday, particularly for the storm it kicks up.
• While Ohana claims that the accepted practice is for a new minister to appoint himself a new professional person to actually direct the ministry, most news outlets note that Palmor was first put in the position by Tzipi Livni, and somehow managed to keep the job when her successor Ayelet Shaked, from the opposite end of the political spectrum, took over.
• Even Israel Hayom, which buries the story deep inside and plays up Ohana’s defense of the move “as a matter of trust,” quotes sources inside the ministry as saying that Palmor is a consummate professional who managed to work well with both Livni and Shaked.

2. Problems, problems everywhere (but not a drop to do): The Kan public broadcaster reports that current Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit okayed the move because it was technically a resignation.

• However, Haaretz quotes unnamed sources in the ministry who confirm that Palmor was actually fired and did not resign, and notes that even Mandelblit said they are “legal problems,” with what is going on.
• According to Globes, a number of lawyers have appealed to Mandelblit to change his mind Wednesday in a letter, while others are continuing to fume about the move.
• Yedioth Ahronoth notes that the ouster raises several questions, like whether a minister in a transition government can make such a major move, and if the switch is intended to make sway the selection of a new state prosecutor, which will be made in a few months.

3. Comfy choice: There are also questions — actually accusations — that Ohana’s move came at the behest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

• Walla reports that many think it will make things “more comfortable” for Ohana and Netanyahu, as the ministry head is among the small handful of people who will help pick the next state prosecutor, who will be involved in the process of possibly indicting Netanyahu.
• Globes columnist Hen Maanit also sets up how replacing Palmor can have an effect on Netanyahu’s legal woes, but ultimately backs off with an “it’s too early to tell.”
• Similarly Yedioth columnist Tiva Zimucki notes “in normal times an incoming minister can change out his director,” but given Netanyahu’s fraught legal and political situation, it’s easy to “turn everything into a conspiracy.”
• She also notes that firing and hiring is about the only thing a minister can do to flex his muscles, but that does not stop Maariv’s Avishai Grunzweig from complaining that Ohana should have more important things to do.
• “As an MK who was granted the right to make all his dreams come true as Justice Minister, he doesn’t have any policies to advance beyond firing his professional director?”

4. Flubbing Yairs: There are also rampant accusations and rumors that Ohana pushed out Palmor at Netanyahu’s behest as part of some sort of revenge plot against Shaked.

• The claims are only amped up by the fact that the ouster came only days after Netanyahu’s son Yair posted on Facebook a message claiming that Shaked appointed Palmor, who he claims is a leftist and was an aide to Meretz leader Zehava Galon.
• Yedioth notes that the post is wrong on two levels. She was appointed by Livni, not Shaked, and Palmor never worked for Galon.
• Another Yair also gets caught up in half truths: Defending Palmor, Blue and White No. 2 Yair Lapid tweeted that his father Tommy appointed Palmor (whom he calls “Amy”) to the head of the pardons committee. After someone pointed out that she had been in the position for three years when Lapid became justice minister, he corrects it, but says his dad still appreciated her work.
• “Ouch,” taunts, the national religious Srugim website.
• At least neither of them tried to Google translate her name and call her “my mother.”

5. Suddenly sorry: Haaretz on Tuesday printed an op-ed by Meretz MK Issawi Frij calling on Ehud Barak to apologize for the deaths of 12 Arab protesters while he was prime minister in October 2000.

• Rather than dismiss it, Barak actually apologizes, telling Kan radio that he “expresses his sorrow and regret to the families and before the Arab community.”
• Despite the apology, Walla reports that the community is not necessarily buying it.
• “He is minimizing the enormity of the crime he and his government carried out against our people,” says Hassan Asala, the father of one of the people killed (and father-in-law of Hadash leader Ayman Odeh). “If he admits to the crime, he should stand before the people and shoot himself in the head or let one of my martyr brothers do it.”
• Haaretz reports that after the apology, Barak spoke with Frij, including about the possibility of a Meretz-Israel Democratic Party merger. Meretz “isn’t closing the door on anybody and Barak is one of the options,” he’s quoted telling the paper.

6. Boffo for Boris: Israel Hayom celebrates Boris Johnson’s win in the British Tory leadership race, calling the new prime minister “a friend in Downing 10,” on its front page (and raising the question of what Theresa May was).

• “Israel may have lost a friend in the form of his predecessor, Theresa May, but it has won an even greater friend in Johnson, whose appointment was hailed as good news for both Israel and British Jews, who now have reason to believe their premier will fight British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and the anti-Semitism that has ruined his party,” former ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor writes in the paper.
• Yedioth Ahronoth, which notes (as do many others) that Johnson volunteered on a kibbutz for a few days as a youth, writes that “Israel is satisfied with the pick.”
• “Johnson is thought to be warm and supportive of Israel and the British Jewish community, and in Jerusalem he is seen as someone who knows well Israel’s challenges in the region, especially regarding Iran.
• Haaretz’s Anshel Pfeffer says Johnson has always been pro-Israel, but also notes that “his support for Israel has often been tempered by criticism of its government’s policies.”
• Now with the UK is so weak it can’t even protect its ships from Iran, and with Brexit hanging like a sword of Damocles, the country won’t have much clout or leeway when it comes to Israel’s challenges: “Even if Boris Johnson turns out to be the most pro-Israel of British prime ministers, it will be immaterial — as he will certainly be the least influential on the global stage.”