Journalist Yoav Yitzhak today (Sunday) applied to the High Court of Justice for an interlocutory injunction against the possible appointment of Adv. Yaakov Ne’eman to any ministerial post, but particularly to that of Minister of Justice. The desired injunction would prevent any appointment being made until final judgement (on possible appeal) is handed down on the indictment from which Ne’eman was acquitted, and until a decision is reached on the petition submitted by Yitzhak about one year ago, against Ne’eman’s being appointed.
In his application, Yitzhak states that the judgement exonerating Ne’eman determined, inter alia, that he had made incorrect statements in his affidavit to the High Court of Justice and in his police depositions, but that no criminal intent had been proven and that therefore he should not be convicted. Yitzhak moreover alleges that Ne’eman’s appointment to the post of Minister of Justice is a practical matter that could come to a head in the next few days, before the High Court rules on his, Yitzhak’s, original petition.
Yitzhak further states that Ne’eman had notified leading cabinet ministers and MKs of his wish to be reinstated as Minister of Justice and that MK Aryeh Deri was urging Tzachi Hanegbi to waive the job in Ne’eman’s favour. He claims to have addressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in writing on this matter, as soon as Ne’eman was acquitted last weekend, but to have received no answer.
Yitzhak again alleges that Ne’eman has, on the face of it, a criminal past such as to disqualify him from holding ministerial office. This allegation relates, inter alia, to the affairs cited in his original petition. Yitzhak also claims that the court erred in determining that Ne’eman had of his own volition corrected his affidavit to the High Court of Justice regarding the time at which Deri assigned him to head an Interior Ministry committee on local authorities. According to Yitzhak, Ne’eman has to this day not submitted to the High Court an amended affidavit on this point, even though the petition is still pending.
Yoav Yitzhak is a "Globes" reporter.