Minister to be reprimanded over drone blunder
Attorney General advises Prime Minister Netanyahu to reprimand Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel for giving away a drone being used for research to Russian Premier Dmitry Medvedev without permission.
The drone, worth 200,000 shekels, was given as a gift despite the fact that it was being used by researchers at the Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center.
At the same time, Mandelblit approached the Civil Service Commissioner to consider opening a disciplinary investigation against the Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture.
In the letter written by the Attorney General, he said that after becoming aware of what had transpired, he viewed "the conduct in which a drone was given to the Russian prime minister as grave and in contravention of the law. It was done without receiving the required approval and no examination of the implications.”
Mandelblit announced that he informed the prime minister who turned to the civil service commissioner in order to open a thorough check into the conduct of the general director of the agricultural ministry and to determine the possibility of opening a disciplinary proceedings against him.
In addition, Mandelblit also turned to the Accountant General, to consider whether there is a need to refresh the relevant guidelines in order to avoid the occurrence of similar instances in the future.
Soon after the incident became public, an American official from the US Embassy in Israel expressed concern over Ariel’s decision to give the drone to Medvedev.
“The US demands information from the Israeli authorities in order to determine whether there was American technology in the drone,” the official said days after Uriel’s humiliating and potentially consequential blunder.
