"I demand to know whether Herzl Gedj did his job faithfully.
As head of the Population Administration, was his work done
properly according to the Administration? Did he act
according to the policy and the laws in place in the State of
Israel?" asked MK Rabbi Gafni during a plenum on the issue of
Interior Minister Avraham Poraz' dismissal of the director of
the Population Administration from his post.
Rabbi Gafni criticized Poraz for allegedly deciding to remove
Gedj from his job solely because he refused to list goyim
as Jews, acting in accordance with the law and government
policy. "I inquired before submitting the motion for order
and I found that in terms of proper management and ability
there is no doubt that the man really did do very important
and very great things in the ministry. And the proof is he
was not fired, but transferred to another job in the
district. That means you, too, agree the man was fine. So
what is the meaning of the fact you removed him from the
position of head of the Population Administration? Did the
man not follow the policy as determined by the
government?"
Turning to the Interior Minister he pointed out that if he
wants to change the rules on the matter of listing Jews at
the Interior Ministry, he must go to the government and ask
to amend the law. "You can change regulation and this is
within your authority," said Rabbi Gafni. "But what you are
doing is to convey a message that you don't like the man on
the issue of listing goyim or matters of this kind and
you say, `I'm taking the easy route. Rather than bringing
some decision to the government, rather than bringing an
amendment to the Knesset, I'll simply replace the person.
I'll bring in a person who will act according to the spirit
of things as I would like to see them.' This is a grave
evasion of the regulations and it is not appropriate in a
democratic government."
MK Yitzchak Cohen (Shas) said Gedj was dismissed from his
post "because he did not want to carry out the policy of the
Interior Minister from Shinui, who wants to inundate the
State of Israel with goyim. This blending of Jews and
goyim is a top priority for Interior Minister Poraz of
Shinui, based on the school of thought of Tomislav Lampel,
commonly known as Tommy Lapid."
Interior Minister Poraz claims Gedj was not dismissed from
his post but that his contract expired and therefore as part
of a policy of rotating ranking officials from one position
to another, as practiced in the army, he was made in charge
of the Northern District, one of the top posts at the
Interior Ministry.
