Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann will remain in his position in the next government, the Ma'ariv NRG website reported Friday. The site says Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu has given in to all of the demands made by Yisrael Beiteinu chief Avigdor Lieberman: Friedmann will stay Justice Minister, Lieberman will be Foreign Minister, and his party will also receive the Public Security ministry. On top of these, Yisrael Beiteinu will receive an additional minister in a financial portfolio or two deputy ministers.
Lieberman will thus be the second most powerful person in the cabinet and will have great power over the justice and law enforcement systems. If true, the result is a major downfall for Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch and her supporters in the justice system.
The report completely contradicts an earlier one on the News1 website.
News1 said Friday that Prof. Friedmann will not be Justice Minister in the next government. According to this report, Prime Minister-designate Netanyahu has informed Lieberman that a Likud MK will hold the post.
The site reports that Netanyahu told Liebermann that he does not think Friedmann is unfit to be Justice Minister and that his decision does not mean that he is opposed to Friedmann’s proposed reforms. It adds that Netanyahu intends to carry out reforms in the way in which candidates for judgeship are selected, and to speed up the pace at which justice is served.
News1 reported that Netanyahu never intended to reappoint Friedmann to the ministerial post. It listed MK Benny Begin first in a list of possible candidates, followed by MK Gideon Saar and Dan Meridor. Saar is a former assistant to Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch, and Meridor has been reported to be a close friend of her family. Begin, too, has voiced opinions extremely critical of Friedmann and very supportive of the Supreme Court's current leadership and policies.
'Yechimovich Made it Personal'
Yisrael Beiteinu MK Stas Misezhnikov told IDF Army Radio on Friday that his party never formally demanded Friedmann’s appointment as a condition to joining Netanyahu’s government. “It is not the Yisrael Beiteinu party which made the issue of Daniel Friedmann a personal and formal one,” he explained, “but Knesset Member Shelly Yechimovich who is ruling out Friedmann at the behest of someone else who wants the portfolio.”
“Any name that Lieberman would have raised would have caused sinister suspicions because of Lieberman’s image. Ivet simply attracts fire,” Misezhnikov said, using Lieberman’s Russian nickname.
Observers estimated that Misezhnikov was hinting that Labor MK Yechimovich is acting on behalf of MK Saar, who is her close political ally and friend. She is also considered to be one of the staunchest supporters of Beinisch and Justice Edna Arbel.
Yechimovich has said that “a black flag flutters over Lieberman’s demand to appoint Friedmann” because Lieberman himself is a suspect in a criminal investigation.