Last update - 00:00 07/06/2007
Mazuz slams Friedmann's plan to alter method of appointing AG
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz harshly criticized on Thursday an initiative proposed by Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann to alter the current method with which an attorney general is chosen and appointed.
Friedmann's initiative could be brought before the Knesset for approval as soon as Sunday.
Mazuz called on the government to reject Friedmann's proposal Thursday evening.
Friedmann proposes in his initiative that the committee charged with selecting an attorney general would not be headed by a retired Supreme Court justice, instead, the committee would be headed by a former justice minister or a former attorney general. The requirement for a retired Supreme Court justice to participate in the selection process would be annulled.
Friedmann has also asked the government to permit justice ministers to guide the selection panel and to present more than one potential candidate for the attorney general post.
According to Mazuz, "the attorney general is not a government clerk. He is the head of the public prosecutor's office and he is responsible to enforce the law and protect the public's interests, and this necessitates that he not be dependent on the government."
Last week, in a previous confrontation between Mazuz and Friedmann over the latter's attempts to alter the method of appointing a state prosecutor, Mazuz said that "criticism [of an attorney general] from a government clerk, as senior a position as he may hold, is problematic."
The attorney general ruled that Friedmann's proposal runs contrary to the recommendations of the Shamgar Commission.
In 1997, the Shamgar Commission recommended that the attorney general will be appointed by the government according to the recommendations of a public commission, that will include five members: a retired supreme court justice, a former justice minister, a Knesset member who will be chosen by the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, a lawyer who will be chosen by the national council of The Bureau of Lawyers in Israel, and an expert in the subject of public law and in the subject of criminal law who will be chosen by the heads of the law faculties in the universities of Israel, in order to ensure the candidate selected has the appropriate qualifications for the job.
Mazuz said that since the Shamgar recommendations were adopted, there has been no indication that the method requires augmentation. "Why is [Friedmann] in such a hurry to change [the method] right now, without coordination, examination, or public discussion?" Mazuz wrote to the cabinet ministers. "Even if the Justice Minister believes that the current procedure should be reconsidered, I ask that he follow an organized thought process, or at least ask the Shamgar Commission's opinion," he added.