A-G search panel gives up

A-G search panel gives u

By DAN IZENBERG
The public search committee established to recommend candidates for the post of attorney-general failed on Thursday to make any nominations and informed the prime minister and the minister of justice that it was returning its mandate and ceasing to function. Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman had instructed the committee to nominate three candidates for the post. By a vote of four to one, the committee agreed to publish the fact that three of the five members had proposed four possible nominees - attorney Zvi Agmon, Prof. Daphna Barak-Erez, attorney Yehuda Weinstein and Prof. Yediya Stern. The bloc of three also suggested that the other two members of the committee choose any three of the four proposed by them. The bloc of three included committee chairman, retired Supreme Court Justice Theodore Or, attorney Eyal Rozovksy and Prof. Eyal Benvenisti. The minority members, former Justice Minister Moshe Nissim and MK Yariv Levine, insisted that the committee propose Weinstein and Jerusalem District Court Judge Noam Sohlberg. Although Nissim and Levine had backed Weinstein, they insisted that Sohlberg also be nominated for the position. The establishment of the search committee headed by Or to nominate candidates for the attorney-general's post was based on a government decision. The government has the power to change that decision if it wants to and establish some other mechanism for making the appointment, including the possibility that Neeman or the government will directly appoint the attorney-general.