The Israeli cabinet today approved the bill drawn up by Minister of Tourism Yariv Levin and Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked for the political appointment of deputy directors general at government ministries. The plan was presented to the cabinet several weeks ago and rejected by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called for more extensive political appointments.
However, the bill was put back on the cabinet agenda today. In contrast to the argument that took place on the previous occasion, a cabinet majority voted in favor of it.
Minister of Labor, Welfare, and Social Services Haim Katz and Minister of Social Equality Gila Gamliel voted against the proposal, because they wanted a more extensive change. Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz abstained.
Welcoming the cabinet vote, Shaked said, "The cabinet today proved that governance and professionalism go hand-in-hand. People with managerial talent will join the civil service."
Levin added, "The decisions are designed to buttress governability, and to put an end to an absurd situation in which policy set by the ministers is not fully implemented."
The original proposal by Shaked and Levin in early October stipulated that in every government ministry with over 150 employees (there are 21 such government ministries), the director general would be entitled to appoint a deputy director general without a tender, provided that the candidate has six or seven years of appropriate experience. These deputy directors general will not be able to issue orders to the ministry's professionals staff; their function will be to deal with special projects and coordination between government ministries.
At the previous cabinet meeting at which the proposal was raised, Netanyahu rejected it out of hand, claiming that he wanted much more extensive political appointments, while hinting at the US president's authority to replace the entire governing leadership. According to leaks from that cabinet meeting, it was believed that Netanyahu was likely to instruct coalition chairman MK David Bitan (Likud) and Knesset Finance Committee chairman MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) to consider the matter).
The previous proposal, whose main point was adding a political appointment of a deputy director general to be appointed by the director general of the ministry, was one of the results of a ministerial committee headed by Levin and Shaked. Other members of the committee included Minister of Construction and Housing Yoav Galant, Minister of the Interior and the Development of the Negev and Galilee Aryeh Deri, and Steinitz. The proposal was also brought up for discussion and a vote in Civil Service appointments committee, where active Civil Service Commissioner Udi Prauer opposed it. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, on the other, ruled that the proposal met legal standards.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on October 15, 2017
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017