Cabinet approves replacements for Goldberg Committee

Israel’s cabinet unanimously approved the recommendation of Tourism Minister Yariv Levin to appoint Prof. Talia Einhorn and Moshe Terry as advisory committee members responsible for appointing senior officials to government positions.Einhorn and Terry were recommend by Levin last week to replace former National Security Council head Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Nagel and CPA Iris Stark, who were forced to resign from the Advisory Committee for the Appointment of Senior Civil Service Officials (the Goldberg Committee), following an interim order by the High Court of Justice.In the wake of the interim order, it was not possible to convene the committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Eliezer Goldberg to hold a discussion on the chief of staff and commissioner positions.Candidates for senior positions like the chief of staff must by law be vetted by the appointments advisory committee to ensure they meet all the requirements and are qualified to serve.The four-person committee includes Goldberg and the committee’s fourth member Daniel Hershkovitz, a former science minister and president of Bar-Ilan University. Hershkovitz is currently serving as the head of the Civil Service Commission.On Sunday, Levin expressed his hope that the committee would be able to continue its activities and that urgent appointments could be made to a series of senior positions, including the upcoming IDF chief of staff and police commissioner.Current IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot is set to step down from his role at the beginning of 2019, after serving close to four years as the IDF’s top officer.Among the candidates to succeed him are his deputy, Maj.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi, former deputy chief of staff Maj.-Gen. Yair Golan, head of operations directorate Maj.-Gen. Nitzan Alon, and former head of the Southern Command, Maj.-Gen. Eyal Zamir.According to a report by Ben Caspit in The Jerusalem Post’s sister publication Maariv, Netanyahu wants to appoint Maj.-Gen. Eyal Zamir as the next chief of staff, while Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman reportedly prefers Maj.-Gen. Nitzan Alon for the top post, or current deputy chief of staff Maj.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi as his second choice.Einhorn is full-time professor at the Department of Economics and Business Administration at Ariel University, a senior guest researcher at Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Management and a full-time member of the International Academy of Comparative Law.Last week, her son, a senior aide to Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, stepped down from his position as senior digital media and public opinion adviser to clear the way for Einhorn to serve on the vetting committee.Terry holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science and a master’s degree in economics and business administration from Bar-Ilan University. He served in a number of senior positions in public service and in the economy, including chairman of the Securities Authority and the director-general of the Postal Authority.