Setting up clash with AG, Levin names judge to oversee Sde Teiman probe in her stead

Justice Minister Yariv Levin is seeking to appoint State Ombudsman for Judges Asher Kula as a special prosecutor to head the investigation into former military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, who is suspected of fraud, breach of trust, abuse of her office, obstruction of justice, and unlawful disclosure of material in the Sde Teiman leak scandal.

Kula would head the investigation in place of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, whom Levin has claimed is legally barred from involvement in the case, since she and her office had been involved in submissions to the High Court of Justice on behalf of the Military Advocate General’s Office, which he says turned out to be inaccurate and even misleading.

Baharav-Miara has already rejected Levin’s claims as lacking foundation and stated that the minister does not have the authority to bypass her, and Levin’s announcement will likely lead to a further clash with the attorney general.

Writing to interim Civil Service Commissioner Daniel Hershkowitz, Levin informs him that he intends to appoint Kula to head the investigation instead of the attorney general.

Levin says that Kula has agreed to take the role. Kula, the former deputy president of the Nazareth District Court, was recently handpicked by the coalition to serve as the ombudsman for judges after the government passed legislation giving it control over the ombudsman appointment process.

“I believe that the ombudsman for judges, both as an institution and personally, is the best possible solution to what is required in this case,” says Levin. “His appointment will enjoy broad public trust, which is necessary in the circumstances in which we find ourselves.”

Levin has claimed that a clause in the 1959 Law for the Civil Service (Appointments) allows a minister to empower an external public servant to take up a task of an official under that minister’s authority if that official is legally prevented from carrying out that task.

Some critics have pointed out, however, that this could contravene Clause 34 of Basic Law: The Government which states, “A Minister, who is in charge of implementing a law, is entitled to assume any power, with the exception of powers of a judicial nature.”