Degel HaTorah General Secretary MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni
contacted State Civil Service Commissioner Shmuel Hollander
on Monday to demand that he investigate political
appointments by the Prime Minister's Office allegedly made at
religious councils around the country during the past few
months.
Rabbi Gafni's appeal came in the wake of a State
Comptroller's report about abusive political appointments
made in the Environment Ministry by Tzachi Hanegbi when he
was in control of that office. The Comptroller found that the
Minister insisted on being informed of any vacancy, anywhere
in the ministry and he would refer Likud members to those
positions. Most of the positions were real vacancies, but
there were also reports of no-show and make-work jobs.
The Comptroller sent his findings to the Attorney General,
who must decide if there are grounds for criminal
prosecution.
The State Comptroller is also said to be investigating
alleged political appointments at the Ministries of Health,
Welfare and Agriculture according to media reports.
According to the reports, which were not confirmed, the
investigation was opened after the Comptroller's Office
learned that Health Minister Dani Naveh rewards Likud Center
("Merkaz") members who support him by appointing them to
posts at the Health Ministry and at various hospitals. The
Comptroller has received information about a ranking Health
Ministry official "who doesn't know how to read and write,"
and another ranking official "who nobody knows what he does
at the Ministry other than to walk around the corridors with
his brand-new cell phone."
In response Minister Naveh said, "No problem. Let them
investigate and they will be given full cooperation.
Everything that takes place at the Health Ministry is done in
an upstanding manner and according to all of the guidelines.
During my term only in isolated cases were Likud members
hired altogether."
Naveh added that suitable individuals should not be rejected
because they belong to the Likud. "If they decide to
investigate the issue of political appointments they will
find dozens, hundreds, in all of the government ministries
throughout the years and they will have to put almost all of
the government ministers on trial."
In his letter to the Civil Service Commissioner, Rabbi Gafni
wrote that the Prime Minister's Office is taking advantage of
a legal loophole: When a religious council is not appointed,
primarily due to disputes with the Prime Minister's Office,
two chairman are appointed, one of whom is paid. In such a
case there are no eligibility requirements for the post--
neither in terms of Torah or academic qualifications--thus
they are purely political appointments. "All this," writes
Rabbi Gafni, "at a time when the religious council workers
are not receiving their meager wages and some of them don't
even have food to put on the table."
Regarding the appointment in Kiryat Bialik Rabbi Gafni
writes, "Mr. Sadeh, together with his fellow Shinui Party
members, told the public religious services should be
discontinued and the religious council closed, but when it
comes to handing out jobs they no longer stand off to the
side idly."
The case in Kiryat Bialik referred to by Rabbi Gafni involves
a Shinui political activist who once fought to open
businesses on Shabbos, who was recently appointed by the
Prime Minister's office to be Head of Religious Council in
Kiryat Bialik.
After the appointment was made, Kiryat Bialik Deputy Mayor
Eli Dokorsky contacted the State Comptroller to protest the
appointment of Arnon Sadeh--who was 25th on the last Shinui
Knesset list and has participated prominently in battles to
open businesses on Shabbos--as chairman of the Religious
Council in his town. Meanwhile Israel Chief Rabbi Yonah
Metzger called on the appointers to retract their
decision.
Although Kiryat Bialik Mayor Rafi Wertheim is from Shinui,
city council members say the appointment came straight from
the Prime Minister's Office.
Deputy Mayor Dokorsky, a member of the Likud Center, says
this has the smell of a political appointment and pledged to
do all in his power to stop it. Last week he sent a letter to
the State Comptroller saying that the appointment was
apparently part of a political deal, adding that the High
Court has insisted the religious councils be run by
individuals who are in favor of religious services and have
some connection to religion. Sadeh also does not live in the
area.
The letter also notes that for years all religious council
chairmen in Kiryat Bialik have served on a volunteer basis,
whereas now, "as part of a disgraceful political collusion,
the new appointee will receive wages from the public purse."
Dokorsky also questions the selection of Sadeh since, as a
resident of the Sharon Region, he is unfamiliar with Kiryat
Bialik and its religious needs.
"I find it very curious how the Government of Israel, which
preaches to the local authorities and religious councils
about streamlining and saving money, is forcing the religious
council in Kiryat Bialik to pay, for the first time in its
history, for an outside political activist," Dokorsky told
Yated Ne'eman. "It is clear to me that external
political considerations were the basis of this appointment
and therefore I am asking the State Comptroller to
investigate the circumstances of Mr. Sadeh's appointment and
the political context that led to his appointment."
Chief Rabbi Metzger said it was hard to understand how an
individual who has fought against religious values can now be
charged with the task of defending them. "Would anyone
contemplate having a nonbeliever serve as the rov of a
beis knesses?" he asked, calling for a reversal of the
peculiar decision.
