Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday appointed Roi Kahlon to be the interim Civil Service commissioner. The decision disregarded Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, who last week said Kahlon was unqualified.
According to the High Court of Justice, the attorney-general’s opinions legally bind the government.
Kahlon’s appointment joins a growing list of Baharav-Miara’s opinions that Netanyahu and other ministers have ignored and is another example of the festering crisis between the government and the attorney-general.
The issue of the commissioner’s appointment has dragged on for months over disagreements between Baharav-Miara and Netanyahu.
The Civil Service Commission is the official supervisor of the state’s tens of thousands of civil servants. It is an important gatekeeper with broad authority, which includes chairing an appointment committee for senior Civil Service positions.
The term of the previous commissioner, Daniel Hershkowitz, ended on December 13, after being extended for three months due to ongoing disagreements.
Kahlon's background
Since 2023, Kahlon has served as the head of a directorate to fight crime in the Arab sector, situated within the Prime Minister’s Office. Before that, he worked for about 14 years in the State Attorney’s Office as head of its Economic Crime and Corruption Department, as well as the State Attorney’s Office’s head of discipline, among other roles.
Netanyahu introduced Kahlon last month as someone with significant managerial experience in the public sector.
In Baharav-Miara’s legal opinion last week, Deputy Attorney-General Gil Limon wrote that Kahlon’s professional background was far from meeting the bar for the position of commissioner even temporarily.
The commissioner is directly in charge of 19 managers, including 16 senior branch leaders and about 350 workers. This does not include the tens of thousands of workers in the public sector who are under the commissioner’s responsibility.
Kahlon’s experience did not come close to this standard, Limon wrote, adding that his credentials as presented by Netanyahu were misleading.
Limon stressed that the commissioner was an important gatekeeper in guaranteeing that the professional public service remains apolitical, and that appointing someone unqualified, even for the interim position, would erode this guarantee.
Baharav-Miara, who approved Limon’s opinion, wrote that it would not be legally viable.
In response, Netanyahu on Sunday said Kahlon had given satisfactory answers to questions about his experience. He said the position of interim commissioner only required consultation with the attorney-general, and that he had fulfilled his duty to consult even if he did not accept her opinion.
The spat over Kahlon came weeks after Netanyahu and Baharav-Miara ended a separate dispute over the method to appoint a permanent commissioner.
The law says the government appoints the commissioner, but it does not specify the process. The Netanyahu-led government decided in 2018 to appoint Hershkowitz by an ad-hoc vetting committee. It also decided that it would formulate a regular procedure ahead of the next appointment of a commissioner.
Last June, the Attorney-General’s Office proposed that the process be competitive and involve an independent vetting committee to ensure candidates meet professional and ethical requirements.
In August, the government rejected the attorney-general’s proposal and decided that Netanyahu would choose the commissioner. The choice would then be ratified by the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee, which vets the integrity of candidates but does not examine their professional background.
Netanyahu backed down after a petition was brought against him to the High Court of Justice. He agreed to a compromise whereby the new permanent commissioner would undergo the same process that Hershkowitz did in 2018.
It was unclear if Netanyahu intends to appoint Kahlon to the position of permanent commissioner in three months.
In response, National Unity chairman Benny Gantz said: “The Civil Service failed deeply after October 7 in handling evacuees, damaged infrastructure, and strengthening citizens during a most difficult time. Instead of appointing a strong, independent, and permanent commissioner, the prime minister decided to appoint an unqualified acting commissioner. This appointment should be called, ‘Benjamin Netanyahu against the citizens of Israel.’”
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel (MQG) said: “This appointment was made in complete opposition to the professional position of the attorney-general, ignoring significant shortfalls in the candidate’s qualifications. This is a direct continuation of the dangerous trend of weakening the public sector by making interim appointments in key positions, the purpose of which is to place people dependent on the political echelon in senior positions.”
It called on Netanyahu to reverse his “decision regarding this problematic appointment and act immediately to appoint a permanent commissioner with appropriate qualifications in a proper and transparent procedure.”
MQG said it would consider further legal steps on the matter.