If anyone comes out of the Bar-On affair smelling distinctly un-roselike, that someone is Justice Minister Tzachi Hanegbi. Benjamin Netanyahu can perhaps plead mitigating circumstances. His desk is piled high with important matters awaiting his urgent attention. That may be why he failed to heed warnings against appointing Bar-On. No such excuse, however, will avail the Minister of Justice, one of whose most significant decisions relates to the appointment of the Attorney-General.
Faced with so important and sensitive an issue, what did Hanegbi do? Did he investigate, conduct interviews, tell the whole truth? None of the above. There are two possible explanations for the negligence with which Hanegbi went about his role of spotting meritorious candidates for the job of Attorney-General: either, out of political or personal motives, he simply set his sights on Bar-On to the exclusion of anyone else, or he proceeded in a manner so careless as to border on a breach of public trust.
Even supposing it was the Prime Minister's Office that proposed Bar-On’s candidacy to Hanegbi, what possible explanation can there be for his concealing facts, when the proposed appointment was tabled for the government’s approval? Hanegbi heard devastating criticism of Bar-On’s appointment from Chief Justice Aaron Barak who "wouldn’t even appoint him a Justice of the Peace". All Hanegbi told the government, however, was that he had notified Barak of the appointment.
Hanegbi’s later remarks were positively misleading. He stated that he had also notified outgoing Attorney-General Michael Ben-Yair of the appointment, claiming that the latter had "welcomed the appointment". In his police deposition, however, Ben-Yair testified that he had welcomed the fact that an appointment had been made and a replacement found for him after more than one month; he had not welcomed Bar-On’s appointment. Hanegbi falsely gave his fellow cabinet members to understand that Ben-Yair was giving Bar-On his blessing. A half-truth is commonly acknowledged to be worse than an outright lie.
The only fitting punishment for a cabinet minister who operates negligently and conceals information from the government is to be "exfoliated". A reward such as being kicked upstairs to a more important office, meaning, in the present instance, the Ministry of Finance, is definitely out.
Suppose Hanegbi is, in fact, switched to the Ministry of Finance (there to replace Dan Meridor, who had the sheer gall to come out openly with his opinion of Bar-On’s appointment). And suppose, having once gotten away with it, he goes and repeats his Bar-On affair behaviour in one way or another in future. Will that make him eligible for yet a further promotion to, let us say, the Prime Minister's Office?
The impression clearly standing to be derived from the conclusions of this investigation are that none but a Justice Minister like Tzachi Hanegbi could have appointed an Attorney-General like Roni Bar-On. The present incumbent in the office of the Attorney-General is an eminently well-qualified individual. The time has come to make sure the adjacent office, that of the Minister of Justice, is likewise suitably manned.
