BizportalSecurity14:58

Retired Justice Zvi Zilberthal to Head Submarine Affair Investigation Committee

By איתמר לוין

Translated & summarized from Bizportal by baba

BusinessNeutral tone

Hebrew · 6 newsrooms covering

Retired Supreme Court Justice Zvi Zilberthal will head the state commission of inquiry into the submarine affair, replacing Acher Grunis who resigned due to health issues. Retired Central District Court President Rachel Lorch has also been appointed to the committee. The commission is beginning to hear testimony from key figures including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense officials. Zilberthal, appointed by Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit, previously served on the Supreme Court from 2012 to 2017.

The story in 5 lines · by baba

Retired Justice Zvi Zilberthal will lead the state commission of inquiry into the submarine affair.
Acher Grunis resigned from the committee due to health reasons, citing a recent worsening of his condition.
Retired Central District Court President Rachel Lorch has been appointed as a new member of the committee.
The commission is beginning to hear testimony from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other key figures.
Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit made the appointment decisions for the committee.

Retired Justice Zvi Zilberthal to Head Submarine Affair Investigation Committee — Editorial illustration generated by baba News, not a photograph of the event.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Zvi Zilberthal will now lead the state commission of inquiry into the submarine affair, replacing retired Supreme Court President Acher Grunis. Grunis announced his resignation due to health reasons, citing a recent worsening of his condition following a mild stroke several months ago. He is 82 years old.

Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit decided to appoint retired Central District Court President Rachel Lorch to the committee as well. Grunis informed Amit that his health would prevent him from participating in the committee's proceedings for the coming months, and that delaying the hearings would severely harm the investigation. Therefore, he requested to step down and be replaced.

The committee is currently beginning to hear from those warned and witnesses, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, former Navy Commander Ram Rotberg, and former Mossad chief and National Security Advisor Yossi Cohen. Other witnesses summoned include former President Reuven Rivlin and Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir.

Zilberthal, born in 1952, served as a lawyer from 1983 to 1990 before becoming a judge at the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court. He was appointed as an acting judge at the Jerusalem District Court in 2000 and permanently in 2001. Zilberthal was appointed to the Supreme Court in February 2012 and retired in 2017, five years before the mandatory retirement age.

The other members of the committee include former Bank of Israel Governor Karnit Flug, former Director General of the Atomic Energy Commission Gideon Frank, and retired Brigadier General Professor Yaakov Bortman, formerly head of the Air Force's Equipment Wing at Ben-Gurion University.