Regev under fire for allegedly offering Likud activists jobs
Culture Minister apologizes for calling Attorney-General “trash” and his staff “shits.”
By LAHAV HARKOVUpdated: NOVEMBER 13, 2015 04:44Miri Regev(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev offered positions in her ministry to Likud activists and central committee members via an associate, Channel 10 reported Wednesday night.The report showed pages from a notebook said to belong to a senior aide to Regev, Eitan Cohen, with lists of Likud activists and various positions – some paid, some not – in cultural committees and offices that they could hold.Some of the activists in the report are already serving in the jobs mentioned, but most responded to Channel 10 that they had not been offered the positions. Their level of culture- related experience varies, with some having none.It is not illegal to appoint political activists to civil service positions, but their relevant talents and experiences are supposed to be examined and legal advisers must approve the appointments. In some cases, there must be a public tender for a job.The Channel 10 report also included a recording of Regev criticizing Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein and his staff for releasing the contents of a discussion they had over the possibility of limiting funding to theaters that support terrorists.“They tricked us, those shits,” she said. “He didn’t stop anything. What garbage.”Regev took to Facebook to defend herself, pointing out that she is already suing Channel 10 for NIS 1m. for libel, over a report alleging that she hired an advertising company for a ministry campaign without releasing a legally required tender.“Since then, I am specifically under attack by Channel 10.That includes bizarre questions and investigations by the channel’s reporters,” she wrote. “It is clear to me that I am a public person who is supposed to behave with transparency and integrity and fairness, and that is how I behave. I expect the same from the media.”As for her remarks about Weinstein, Regev wrote: “We are all human. We all, in moments of anger, say difficult things to the people close to us, and we are allowed to. I am not proud of it, but it happens... I don’t remember making that statement. If I did say those things, they were said in a time of anger and the statement. If it was said, it does not reflect my stance or my feelings toward the attorney-general, whom I appreciate, respect and value.”