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Neeman's divisive brief
By Yossi Verter
Tags: Yaakov Neeman, Moshe Lador 

Yaakov Neeman and Moshe Lador used to swim at the same Jerusalem pool. We've even seen each other naked, Neeman remarked this week. People who saw the justice minister this week after publication of the open letter to him by the state prosecutor, who slammed his idea, said they detected a hurt tone in his voice.

At 70, Neeman, a top attorney who comes and goes in Netanyahu governments as if there were a revolving door, is more wily and sophisticated than most of his cabinet colleagues. And although he proclaims himself "apolitical," he is more political than most of the politicians around him.

Neeman's secrecy, a natural characteristic of someone who has spent all his days in the private sector either closing deals between tycoons or advising politicians in crisis, is not appropriate when the matter at hand is a decision with momentous public consequences, such as the one he is currently seeking to push through the cabinet. His colleagues may not be as seasoned as he, but unlike him, they have a constituency of voters to answer to. At stake is the very nature of the legal system and the Justice Ministry, which, if altered in line with Neeman's proposals, will no longer resemble what they are today, for better or worse.
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A couple of days ago, at the height of the Lador ruckus, Neeman left the office of opposition leader Tzipi Livni, of Kadima. MK Miri Regev of Likud observed him striding down the long corridor on the Knesset's second floor, and said, as if commiserating, "So you're falling apart?" Neeman gave her a stunned and amused look, and snorted with contempt.

A little later, in a private conversation, Neeman laid out his line of defense: Contrary to what Lador said in his letter, the minister did discuss with him the idea for splitting the attorney general's authorities into two positions; he raised the subject in a speech at the memorial ceremony for Gideon Hausner on April 20; and the initiative was not initially his, but that of the previous justice minister, Daniel Friedmann. Neeman plans to send Lador a response soon, addressing each point separately. He has no intention of firing the state prosecutor, but he expects him to resign.

About two weeks ago, Neeman found out that Labor Party head Ehud Barak had submitted a proposal calling for the establishment of a public commission to address the subject of dividing the attorney general's responsibilities before any changes are made. Neeman asked about the proposal, and Barak said he didn't know all the details - that he signed off on it while he was in London. Neeman also noticed that the signature was not in Barak's handwriting, but rather was a ministry stamp.

"What if I were to give the government a proposal to establish a committee to splitting the role of air force from chief of staff, because I don't think a guy from Golani knows enough about aerial combat, and I did this without speaking to you about it - how would you react?" Neeman asked Barak.

Over the past few weeks, the minister presented his proposal to most of the members of the cabinet, and got the impression that it would win a majority. Now he's waiting for the prime minister. He would like to bring the plan up for a vote in 10 days. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week in private that he wants to take time to consider it, until December. Neeman's response: It is inconceivable that the prime minister would stop a senior minister from bringing up a proposal for discussion when it's clear a majority is assured. Netanyahu knows me. I resigned from Netanyahu's government in 1998 over a policy disagreement.

Neeman has seen it all, but he knows Netanyahu will thwart his plan if he believes it will endanger his government's stability. Some of the prime minister's associates are saying that this is exactly what Netanyahu must do: find an elegant (or less elegant) way to get Neeman to back down before his proposal burns down the house.

The justice minister's plan could create a genuine political crisis - in Labor. The 13 members of this faction, who are normally incapable of agreeing on so much as the time of day, did manage to unite around opposition to the plan. If Barak does not torpedo the whole idea, he could lose the majority in his faction. From there, it may not take long until Labor falls apart, bringing the coalition with it. Kadima won't be in any rush to save Netanyahu, except at a price he won't pay, such as establishing a rotating premiership with Livni.

If there were any kind of peace process going on, Barak could still have convinced his cohorts that Mazuz and Lador could be sacrificed for the sake of peace. Publicly, the defense minister is not issuing any threats or ultimatums. But he is conducting frequent private talks with Netanyahu and speaking on the phone several times a day. Not just concerning security matters.

When Netanyahu is faced with a choice between Neeman and Barak - between splitting the Justice Ministry's authorities and splitting the parliament, leaving him with a 61-person right-wing coalition - he won't have trouble making a decision. And Barak's silence indicates he knows something the rest of us don't.

Officials in the defense minister's bureau are exuding total confidence that Netanyahu will opt for his idea of establishing a public-legal committee to discuss the plan to alter the role of the attorney general. Yaakov Neeman sees that proposal as burying his initiative. Over the course of his career, he has been a member of 25 committees, the vast majority of which did not bring results. And besides, say his people - with justification - who would sit on such a committee? Former justice ministers, academics, retired judges or retired attorneys general. And many of these people have already expressed their stance. The identity of the committee members would determine its conclusions before it even got started.

Kadima's disunity

At the beginning of the week, the other Kadima faction members were surprised to read in the newspaper that Dalia Itzik and Yoel Hasson are pushing a bill, with Tzipi Livni's blessing, to create a new post in the Justice Ministry: a special prosecutor who would probe corruption among elected officials. At the faction meeting this week, five MKs, including Shaul Mofaz, Avi Dichter and Nahman Shai, pounced on Livni, asking: Why didn't you mention this in the faction? Livni gave some sort of explanation, but the damage was already done. "She doesn't understand that she's not a solo act anymore, but a party chairman," said one of her main supporters.

Kadima is unable to project unity in any area: either on the legal front or, most likely next week, on the diplomatic front, when Mofaz presents his plan for a Palestinian state within temporary borders. Livni has not been able to impose her authority regarding either of these central issues. The faction members know the Netanyahu government is not going to fall in the foreseeable future. And they're not shy about disagreeing with her in public.

Lieberman, the pro

From the moment he assumed his post, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman became the media's punching bag. Most of the time for good reason. It seemed he was intent on proving that he's the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time. Whenever he opened his mouth, Netanyahu and also Barak - who at times has had to act as foreign minister - were forced to put out a fire in some important world capital.

But a foreign minister is judged not only by his declarations, but also by his appointments. And in this regard, Lieberman proved this week that he is capable of making an admirable, professional decision without letting party interests come into play: The foreign minister's bureau announced that his next candidate for UN ambassador is the former consul general in New York, Alon Pinkas. The appointment will be approved in the coming weeks, and in the summer, Pinkas will replace Prof. Gabriela Shalev when she completes her two-year term as Israel's No. 2 diplomat in the United States.

The greater public knows Pinkas mostly from his television appearances, as a commentator on American affairs. In the diplomatic community he is known as one of Israel's top spokesmen in the United States, someone who has personal ties with administration officials like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, and who is well-connected in Congress and with the media.

Three years ago, Pinkas ran for Knesset on the Labor list, and his views could certainly be considered leftist. For a long time, he was close to Barak, who appointed him consul general in New York in 2000. He is friendly with Dalia Itzik, and has warm relations with President Shimon Peres. If there's anybody who is the antithesis of everything Lieberman signifies as a politician, it's Pinkas. Still, at the moment of truth, when Lieberman was required to choose between candidates, he appointed someone who will not do anything to help his own political career, but will certainly help the State of Israel.

In the summer of 1996, Netanyahu and Lieberman both entered the Prime Minister's Office, the former as prime minister and the latter as his bureau chief. The PMO's legal advisor, Ahaz Ben-Ari, a holdover from the previous government, was summarily dismissed by Lieberman, with the following memorable comment: "We want a legal advisor who's of the same mind as we are." Thirteen years later, Lieberman appointed as UN ambassador someone who has never been, and apparently never will be, of the same mind as him.

It remains to be seen whom Lieberman has in mind for other political appointments, including some important posts in North America. Some Foreign Ministry officials fear he plans to fill these positions with a variety of activists from Yisrael Beiteinu.
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