AG: New appointments are politicizing police internal affairs, could harm election integrity

Israel's Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara told the Supreme Court that Justice Ministry Director-General Itamar Donenfeld improperly advanced an appointment to the committee selecting the leadership of the police internal investigations department (DIPI), politicizing it. She urged the court to halt appointments, warning that a politicized DIPI could harm the integrity of the upcoming October 27 election. The Knesset passed an amendment in June moving DIPI from the State Attorney's Office to direct justice minister control. Baharav-Miara argued Donenfeld submitted only one candidate and that three of five committee members represent the minister.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara told the Supreme Court on Thursday that Justice Ministry Director-General Itamar Donenfeld inappropriately pushed through an appointment to the committee that will select the leadership of the Department of Internal Police Investigations (DIPI), politicizing it. The DIPI is a Justice Ministry department that investigates police. Baharav-Miara called on the court to halt appointments to the committee and to the DIPI's top jobs, citing concerns that an unduly politicized DIPI could "instill fear in officers, investigators, prosecutors and journalists" and "harm law enforcement's ability to perform its duty to ensure the integrity of the coming election," on October 27. The Knesset in June passed an amendment that would move the DIPI from the State Attorney's Office to the direct control of the justice minister, with proponents citing prosecutors' cooperation with police to argue that DIPI had an institutional bias against targets associated with the political right. Baharav-Miara, who along with other senior legal officials has warned the legislation undermines DIPI's independence, filed the brief as part of petitions against the measure. Critics have also argued that the law was part of the government's broader drive to assert control over levers of legal power and reduce checks on government authority. The amendment empowers a five-member committee to appoint the two top officers of the new DIPI, with a majority controlled or influenced by the justice minister or the ministry's director-general. Baharav-Miara charged that Donenfeld exercised undue influence over the selection of the person he was meant to appoint in consultation with Civil Service Commissioner Doron Cohen. Donenfeld, a political appointment of Levin's, on June 17 submitted for Cohen's approval the name of just one candidate, whom Cohen okayed following a June 21 interview. The candidate's name was redacted in documents appended to the court filing. Baharav-Miara said that between that candidate, the lawyer appointed by Levin, and Donenfeld himself, "the result... is that a majority of committee members — three of five members — are representatives of the minister, or were appointed with his significant involvement." She also noted that the amendment set three members as the legal quorum for the committee to make personnel decisions. She said the amendment was practically in effect despite being supposed to come into effect only after the election, and that the justice minister, a member of the outgoing government, is working to create a fait accompli for the next government.