Preliminary Approval: Top State Officials Would Leave Office Immediately After Elections

Photo: Noam Moskowitz, Knesset Spokesperson

Preliminary approval: Top state officials would leave office immediately after elections

The Knesset plenum on Wednesday approved in preliminary reading a Basic Law proposal submitted by MK Shalom Danino, which establishes a uniform mechanism for appointing and removing senior civil service officials. The proposal, which received the support of 53 Knesset members, gives the government exclusive authority in the matter, with the aim of making its work more efficient. The law would apply to positions such as the IDF chief of staff, the police commissioner and the attorney general.

The Knesset plenum today approved in preliminary reading the Basic Law: The Government (Amendment, Senior Appointments in the Civil Service), submitted by MK Shalom Danino. The proposal won the support of 53 Knesset members, compared with 41 opposed, and will now be transferred to the Knesset Committee, which will decide where it will be discussed further. The purpose of the law is to establish a uniform mechanism for appointing and removing senior civil service officials.

According to the bill, the government will have full and exclusive authority regarding the appointment, non-appointment and removal of senior officeholders, subject to the required eligibility conditions. The list of positions covered by the arrangement includes critical posts such as the IDF chief of staff, the police commissioner, the head of the Shin Bet, the head of the Mossad, the attorney general and director generals of government ministries.

The explanatory notes to the proposal state that its purpose is to make the government’s work and the implementation of its decisions more efficient, while ensuring its accountability to the public and the Knesset. The proposal seeks to draw on models for appointing senior officials in leading democracies around the world, and to apply the constitutional principle that the government is the state’s executive branch.

It was also noted that Israel is unusual compared with accepted practice in leading democracies around the world, in the weakness of elected officials’ control and oversight over the senior government bureaucracy. As a result, the government’s control and oversight over the actions of these senior officials is eroded, and the proposal seeks to return power to elected representatives.

The proposed law states that appointments will be made on the recommendation of a minister or the prime minister, and that the Knesset will be entitled to hold hearings for candidates and present its recommendations to the government. In addition, the term of senior civil service officials will end within 100 days of the formation of a new government, unless the government decides otherwise, and it will be able to remove a senior official from office after giving them an opportunity to present their position.

On the attorney general’s head: The appointments law was approved by the ministerial committee 65 10.05.26 | Itzik Abuhatzeira Basic Law, appointments, Knesset 18 Write a comment