The Knesset plenum is scheduled to vote Wednesday on an urgent agenda motion by MK Ariel Kelner, calling attention to unusually prolonged disciplinary and administrative proceedings against civil servants and candidates for public office. The debate comes in the wake of the case involving attorney Roi Kahlon.
In the motion’s explanatory notes, Kelner warns that a person can remain under a continuing cloud of suspicion without a decision, harming reputation, public standing and career prospects in the civil service. He says such delays undermine the rule of law, due process and public trust, and argues that when officials such as the attorney general open a case but avoid deciding whether to close it or take action, it raises concern about improper use of government power. “Government power is meant to serve the public, not keep people under an unlimited cloud,” the proposal says.
Kelner’s office says Kahlon’s case sharply illustrates the broader problem. They accuse Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara of first using a disciplinary process to block him, and then leaving the case open to justify the opening of the file. They say no one in a state governed by law should be kept under suspicion or an open proceeding for a year and a half without a ruling.
The background is a disciplinary inquiry opened in January 2025 into Kahlon, who at the time was acting civil service commissioner. The probe examined questions about the managerial experience listed on his résumé and the accuracy of information he had provided. Reports say the relevant facts were gathered shortly after the inquiry began and the review was effectively complete, yet no decision was made on whether to close the file or move forward with discipline.
After Kahlon repeatedly asked the competent authorities for a ruling and received no answer, he turned to Prof. Menachem Finkelstein, the commissioner for complaints against state representatives in court. Finkelstein later found the complaint justified regarding the excessive delay and urged an immediate decision, but the file still remains open. Kelner is expected to ask what current time limits and oversight mechanisms exist, whether clear deadlines for decisions are being considered, and how the government will prevent open cases from becoming a tool that blocks the advancement of public candidates and employees.
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