The centrist Yesh Atid Party lead by former Finance Minister Yair Lapid filed a suit in the High Court of Justice today against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to appoint MK Rabbi Yaakov Litzman of the Ashkenazi haredi of United Torah Judaism Party (UTJ) Deputy Minister of Health.
Above: Rabbi Yaakov Litzman
Yesh Atid Sues Netanyahu In High Court Over Haredi Appointment
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The centrist Yesh Atid Party lead by former Finance Minister Yair Lapid filed a suit in the High Court of Justice today against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to appoint MK Rabbi Yaakov Litzman of the Ashkenazi haredi of United Torah Judaism Party (UTJ) Deputy Minister of Health.
The appointment would be a legal fiction in which Litzman would be the only deputy minister and no actual Minister of Health would be appointed. That would allow Litzman to act as a full minister and run the Health Ministry as he sees fit while at the same time it would absolve him from some of the responsibilities full ministers have – like voting on security issues, something Litzman and other UTJ politicians refuse to do for both religious and political reasons.
Litzman was Deputy Health Minister for four years ending in 2013. The legal fiction was in place during that entire time.
According to a report in the Jerusalem Post, in a High Court ruling in 2009, the High Court warned that legal fiction was invalid and should not be used and ruled the Ministry of Health must have a full minister leading it, but it did not order the government to remove Litzman.
As has been his pattern for many years, Netanyahu – who was also Prime Minister during all of Litzman’s 2009-2013 term as Deputy Minister of Health – ignored the High Court and left Litzman in place.
Besides his new plan to reappoint Litzman in defiance of the High Court, Netanyahu is also strongly backing proposed legislation meant to severely limit the High Court’s power. If passed, Israel would become a country with no strong checks and balances in place and, many observers believe, would put the relatively young Israeli democracy at risk.