Additional Hearing High Court of Justice 70105-05-25 Government of Israel v. Louis Brandeis Institute for Society, Economics and Democracy, The College of Management Academic Track, founded by the Tel Aviv Bureaucracy

Additional Hearing70105-05-25

Judge David Mintz:

Additional hearing of this court's judgment of May 12, 2025 In a High Court of Justice case 37830-08-24, In a High Court of Justice case 41730-08-24 And in the case High Court of Justice 49541-08-24, in which a majority opinion was accepted (the President Y.  Amit and the judge D.  Barak-Erez, against the dissenting opinion of Vice President v.  Solberg) Petitions against government decisions establishing a mechanism for the appointment of the next civil service commissioner (hereinafter: The judgment that is the subject of the additional hearing or The Judgment).

The Ottoman Settlement [Old Version] 1916 At the center of our case is a new precedent issued before this Court, according to which the appointment of a civil service commissioner is contingent on the existence of a competitive proceeding.  This rule modifies a previous ruling of this court only from a few years ago; And there is not, and cannot dispute, its importance and the ripples of its effects in relation to the public service in Israel.  Hence I have decided to order an additional hearing of the judgment, and hence this judgment of ours.

12-34-56-78 Chekhov v.  State of Israel, P.D.  51 (2)

Introduction

1. The methods of appointment to positions in the civil service are regulated by the Civil Service Law (Appointments), 5719-1959 (hereinafter: the Appointments Law or the Law). Section 19 of the law states that the main way to appoint employees in the public service is through a public tender.  At the same time, the law establishes a statutory exemption from a tender for a number of specific positions, and it also allows the government, in section 21 thereof, to determine jobs and types of jobs to which the tender obligation will not apply.  Additional tender exemption provisions are enshrined in other pieces of legislation.
2. As a rule, candidates for senior positions in the civil service that are exempt from a tender are examined by one of three types of committees:

Appointments Committee - A committee that examines a candidate's qualifications and suitability for the position, after a recommendation for his appointment has been formulated by the appointing body.  The members of the committee include the Civil Service Commissioner (hereinafter also: Service Commissioner or The Commissioner) who serves as the chairman of the committee, and two public figures.  These representatives are selected from a list of eight public figures formulated by the Prime Minister after consultation with the Attorney General and the Civil Service Commissioner.  These must have knowledge or experience in the fields of public administration, with no personal, business or political affiliation to a member of the government (Resolution 4892 of the 27th Government "The Appointments Committee Headed by the Civil Service Commissioner - Amendment to Government Decision No.  516 of 14 August 1960" (7 March 1999)).  The committee sets criteria for examining the candidate's suitability for the position, examines the special needs of the position, approaches recommenders, interviews the candidate, and ultimately forwards its recommendation to the appointing body (Directive 1.3 of the Civil Service Commissioner, "Procedure for the Work of the Appointments Committee" (January 1, 2019)).