From Unelected Officialdom to Rule of the People

by Moshe Feiglin

A struggle is currently being fought out in Israel over the appointment of the new Police Chief. In Israel, an unelected government committee meets to approve the appointment of high ranking government officials. That committee voted to disqualify the candidate for Police Chief, Captain Moshe Edri, due to a meeting he held with an attorney representing someone who had filed a complaint to the committee against his appointment. Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said he did not accept the committee’s decision and would work to push the approval through the cabinet.

I hope that Minister Erdan will not give in and will appoint Edri to the position. I do not know Captain Edri, but the conflict over his appointment has presented us with an opportunity for a change of public direction from the rule of unelected officials to the rule of the people (by means of their elected representatives).

In my opinion, Minister Erdan does not even have to push the approval through the cabinet. He has the authority to appoint the police chief and if he is satisfied that the candidate is worthy of the position, he should simply go ahead with the appointment. If someone has a problem with that, they should turn to the High Court and prove that something in the appointment process was illegal.

I will not forget how, when I was in the Knesset, the Search Committee for the new Attorney General presented just one candidate for PM Netanyahu’s consideration. In other words, unelected officialdom announced to the people’s elected official that he is welcome to choose Shai Nitzan from among the long list of non-existent candidates. Netanyahu, of course, accepted the directive of unelected officialdom (just a code word for “the Left”) and, as usual, betrayed his position as the representative of the rule of the people.

All of my attempts, as an MK, to get the story out to the public were met with a buttressed wall of silencing on the part of the media (that knows when to keep silent and when to make a huge fuss).

Now we are facing the next test. Will the rightist government change direction and appoint Edri with no further delay?

Why am I smiling a bitter smile while I write that question?