Netanyahu, has announcement to make
Photo: Gil Yohanan
PM to announce ministers will chose next AG
Aides close to prime minister tell Ynet no new attorney general selection committee will be formed following resignation of previous committee, but instead, ministers will chose one of four candidates for the job
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is slated to announce during Sunday's cabinet meeting that a new committee for the selection of an attorney general will not be appointed.
Sources close to the PM told Ynet on Friday that the cabinet will select its next attorney general in two weeks' time out of a list of four candidates who received three votes by the previous selection committee, which submitted its resignation on Thursday after failing to reach a decision.
The four candidates are: Attorney Yehuda Weinstein, Professor Yedidia Stern, Professor Dafna Barak-Erez and Attorney Zvi Agmon. The system in which the selection will take place in the government has yet to be determined, and there is a chance that not all four candidates will stand before the ministers for a decision.
One of the issues casting a heavy shadow on the committee's work is related to the questing of whether the next attorney general's role should be divided.
The prime minister announced at the start of the week that the next attorney general will have full authority, thus rejecting the reform Justice Minister Yaakov Ne'eman wishes to lead.
"The question of division is irrelevant to the committee's decision. The committee must reach a decision based on the current formula of the attorney general's role," Netanyahu said.
While the prime minister's decision did prevent a coalitional crisis with the Labor Party, which opposes the division of the AG's post, a Labor official told Ynet on Friday that the party feels the decision not to form a new selection committee and have the ministers decide on the candidates is unacceptable.
According to the source, the Labor Party demands a new selection committee be appointed according to the same formula which guided the previous committee.
Commenting on Netanyahu's decision not to divide the AG's role, aides close to the justice minister said the committee tasked with the matter will complete its work in a number of months, but the next attorney general will be the one to lead the reform and the division process.
However, sources in the political establishment believe Ne'eman was dealt a hard blow. "There is no doubt that Netanyahu's words demonstrate in the best possible way the fact that there will be no division in the near future, and if there is, it will only be after a serious and in-depth debate, with will only happen many months from now."
