Newly appointed Attorney General Shai Nitzan
Newly appointed Attorney General Shai NitzanFlash 90

MK Orit Struk (Jewish Home / Bayit Yehudi) hinted strongly Tuesday that government ministers are afraid to oppose the appointment of Shai Nitzan to the position of State Attorney / Chief Prosecutor because the Prosecution might file trumped-up charges against them in revenge.

In an interview with Arutz Sheva, MK Struk quoted IDF Radio reporter Ilil Shahar, who reported last year on Nitzan's appointment to the position of Deputy Attorney General for Special Assignments. At the time, Shahar said that she had spoken to ministers who told her privately that they oppose the appointment, but are afraid to do so publicly because the Prosecution might seek revenge against them by filing trumped-up charges against them.

When asked about this possibility, Deputy Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) did not deny that it was possible. She said that she had written to all of the government ministers and asked that they oppose Nitzan's appointment but that except for Uzi Landau, it appears no senior government figures are willing to go out on a limb in this matter.

Nationalist politicians have long charged that the Israeli legal establishment is oligarchic and nepotistic in nature, and that is is dominated by a select few figures from the Israeli Left who make sure that only people of their own ideological hue are appointed to key positions. 

Nitzan is perceived as harboring radical left-wing views, and as an avowed enemy of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. He played key roles in the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza and northern Samaria (Shomron), and in the bloody eviction at Amona in 2006.

Apart from Struk and Landau, maverick Likud MK Moshe Feiglin has also voiced his staunch opposition to the appointment of Nitzan, slamming it as a setback for Israeli democracy.