Former Supreme Court Vice President Mishael Cheshin slammed Friday Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann's attempts to introduce changes in the process of selecting the next attorney general.

"The intention is to insult the president of the Supreme Court and to weaken his status," the retired justice told Israel Radio.

Speaking of Friedmann and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's public clashes this week over the justice minister's initiative, Cheshin said: "Mazuz is not fighting for his position, for his honor or for his home. He is fighting for the rule of law... of which he speaks in its purest sense. While Friedman is politicizing, Mazuz is standing steadfast against him."

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Cheshin concluded: "The public and MKs have to rise up against this, don't let Freidman to do this."

Mazuz himself publicly urged the cabinet Thursday night to oppose the changes Friedmann recommended.

Friedmann said Thursday that he is considering requesting a delay in the cabinet deliberations on his proposals, currently scheduled for Sunday, "in order to allow public debate prior to a cabinet decision."

Mazuz's aides said that the attorney general was not consulted about the proposed changes, even though he and Friedmann held several work meetings over the last week, and accused Friedmann of "ambushing" Mazuz.

"What bothers us is the minister's behavior," a senior official in Mazuz's office said yesterday. "He is sitting behind closed doors with the attorney general and the state prosecutor and they agree to bury the hatchet, and suddenly, in the morning, we are hit with a proposal for Sunday's cabinet meeting, without any coordination, without any consultation, without any discussion with us. That is simply strange conduct."

A source in the minister's office replied that Friedmann did discuss the issue with the attorney general, and charged that Mazuz was complaining merely because he feels there has been insufficient public discussion on the matter.

Friedmann is proposing that the head of the search committee for a new attorney general not be a retired Supreme Court justice, but a former justice minister or attorney general. He also proposes that the retired judge on the committee be allowed to come from any echelon of the judiciary, instead of the Supreme Court only, and that this judge be appointed by the justice minister instead of the Supreme Court president.

Finally, Friedmann would like the committee to propose two or three candidates to the cabinet instead of only one candidate, as it has in the past.

"It is appropriate for the person heading the search committee to be someone who knows about the attorney general's work - in other words, either a former justice minister or a former attorney general," Friedmann said.

He also argued that "the need for change stems from the separation of powers principle and the fact that it is not desirable for the Supreme Court to be involved in the process of appointments in government ministries. The attorney general's appointment was and remains an appointment by the government."

Mazuz responded by sending the ministers a critique of Friedmann's proposed changes Thursday night.

"I oppose Friedmann's proposals," Mazuz wrote, "and call on the government not to approve them. The proposals are diametrically opposed to the conception that underlay the Shamgar Committee's recommendations ... What has happened since that cabinet decision [i.e. the one that adopted the Shamgar proposals] that justifies a change today?"