Lieberman to head committee
Photo: AP
PM to form committee to tackle international lawsuits
Netanyahu to appoint ministerial committee aimed at dealing with international lawsuits against Israeli military officials, public figures. Broad committee to be headed by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, to include eight other ministers
A ministerial committee headed by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman will be appointed to lead the Israeli struggle against lawsuits filed around the world against military and defense establishment officials, ministers and Israeli public figures.
The government is slated to approve the appointment of the committee during Sunday's cabinet meeting. The committee's main objective will be to foil, by any means, any such legal proceedings.
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The committee will be continuing the work started by the intra-ministerial team appointed for this purpose by the previous government, headed by then-Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann.
But the Netanyahu government takes international lawsuits very seriously, and will appoint a broader and "heavier" committee to tackle them. The committee will include eight ministers and the attorney general.
The committee's first mission will be to face the reopening of a Spanish investigation against six Israeli figures including Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Dan Halutz into the 2002 assassination of Hamas official Salah Shehadeh, in which 14 civilians were killed.
Israeli sources have called the renewed investigation a "cynical move".
The committee will be headed by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and will include Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Interior Minister Eli Yishai, Justice Minister Yaakov Ne'eman, Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional Development Silvan Shalom, Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog, Minister of Information and Diaspora Yuli Edelstein and Minister Yossi Peled.
The proposal to have the committee formed will be filed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to the proposal, committee will have the following authority: "To deal with the diplomatic and political aspects arising from the State of Israel and its citizens' exposure to the proceedings of international lawsuits, including the aspects pertaining to dealing with individual lawsuits.
"The committee will discuss the various options for promoting understanding and agreement with countries around the world to minimize and prevent the abuse of universal authorities. The committee will have at its disposal experts from the field of international law, the field of politics, and the field of PR on the international plane."
On Sunday the cabinet is expected to appoint Lieberman in charge of Israel's strategic ties with the United States.
