Turkel C'ttee term extended 3 years

In a telephone vote, the cabinet today extended the Turkel Committee's term by three years. The term of the Committee for Reviewing Appointments of Senior Government Officials is for three years, under the government decision from 1999, and each committee may serve a maximum of two terms.

The term of the current committee, chaired by Judge (Emeritus) Yaakov Turkel, was due to end on August 22. The other committee members are former minister Moshe Nissim, former MK Gila Finkelstein, and Civil Service Commissioner Moshe Dayan.

Netanyahu's aides say that there are two reasons for the decision to extend the Turkel Committee: the first is to stabilize the committee, especially after Jacob Frenkel and Leo Leiderman withdrew their candidacies for governor of the Bank of Israel; the second is to express satisfaction with the committee's professionalism and effectiveness.

"This committee is inconvenient for everyone, evidence of which is the disqualification or hint that it will disqualify candidates, and it has proved its worth," said a source. The Turkel Committee has disqualified a candidate for the IDF chief of staff, the head of the Israel Prison Service, and two candidates for governor of the Bank of Israel.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 13, 2013