Subscribe to Print Edition | Thu., May 28, 2009 Sivan 5, 5769 | | Israel Time: 02:03 (EST+7)
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Part-time government
By Haaretz Editorial

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it was reported Monday, has offered Intelligence and Atomic Energy Minister Dan Meridor the job of coordinating negotiations for the release of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit. If Meridor accepts, this development should be viewed positively.

Meridor is a cabinet member, he is a partner to some of the most sensitive issues and he is capable of heading a team of experts on negotiating and analysis.
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This is not the case with respect to other appointments of envoys and advisers by the prime minister: businessman Uri Yogev to consult on the economy and attorney Yitzhak Molcho to advise on relations with the Palestinians (a role he also served during Netanyahu's previous term).

Neither of the two is a public servant, so they are not subject to civil-service regulations and the requirement of a cooling-off period when completing their assignments.

They are supposed to take precautions against conflicts of interest and are expected to try to avoid mixing their private and official lives. The twisted format of part-time personal aid to a prime minister, though, threatens to undo them.

Power and influence are in the eye of the beholder. No matter how hard Yogev and Molcho try to keep things separate, those who have business dealings with them are likely to be impressed by their closeness to the prime minister - which affords them unchecked power, in defiance of the rules of proper government.

Molcho is also the honorary consul to Austria, which is liable to arouse at least the appearance of a problem of dual loyalty.

In previous years officialdom has had to deal with gray-area situations of envoys, among them foreign citizens, who were exempt from the obligations of civil servants. When he was attorney general, Elyakim Rubinstein (now a Supreme Court justice) tried to safeguard against these phenomena but found that prime ministers were practiced at skipping over his measures.

The activation of Yogev has had a deleterious effect on the functioning of the Finance Ministry, in particular the budget department. Choosing Molcho goes against Netanyahu's declared aim of regularizing official staff work. If the two men are keen to help the state, they should respect the yoke of public service, as attorney Yaakov Neeman did upon joining the government as justice minister.

The government of Israel is not Netanyahu's private estate and the Prime Minister's Bureau is not a royal court. The method of employing envoys who have no responsibility to the state is bad in its essence and bad in the example it sets for ministers and officials. A country run with one foot on the inside and one on the outside is destined to stumble.
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