Justice Minister Yariv Levin picks retired district court judge Josefh Ben-Hamo to oversee the criminal investigation into the Sde Teiman video leak, following a ruling by the High Court of Justice on Sunday allowing him to make the appointment.
Levin had chosen State Ombudsman for Judges Asher Kula to oversee the investigation, but the court ruled that pick invalid since the law explicitly bans the ombudsman from serving in any other position, or carrying out any other function, while in office.
Ben-Hamo, who was born in Morocco, served as a judge on the Nazareth District Court for six years from 2014 until 2020 before taking early retirement at the age of 65. Before that, he served as deputy president of the Northern District Magistrate’s Court, and as a family court judge in the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court.
In a letter to Acting Civil Service Commissioner Daniel Hershkowitz, Levin writes that Ben-Hamo dealt with many criminal cases during his time on the bench and that the retired judge fulfills the other, stringent requirements the High Court laid out for Levin in making the appointment.
The court’s ruling stipulated that the supervisor have no political affiliation, be an expert in legal affairs, and have a job closely connected to criminal investigations or prosecutions.
Ben-Hamo will now have the authority to “oversee and inspect” the criminal investigation of the Sde Teiman leak affair, as the High Court stated in its ruling.
In the case, former military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi has admitted that she authorized the leak of a video last year purporting to show the abuse of a Palestinian security detainee by IDF soldiers at the Sde Teiman military facility. She then lied about the matter while ostensibly leading the investigation to find the leaker.
Such an investigation would usually be overseen by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara. The court’s decision said explicitly, however, that the conflict of interest that blocked Baharav-Miara from overseeing the investigation applied only to the oversight and inspection of the investigative phase of the case.
It appears, therefore, from the wording of the ruling, that the authority to decide on whether or not to issue indictments over the case could remain with the attorney general.
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, which petitioned the High Court against Levin’s appointment of Kula, strongly criticizes the appointment of Ben-Hamo, arguing that he does not fit the court’s criteria.
The organization points out that the High Court ruling stipulated the supervisor be a “senior public servant,” which Ben-Hamo is not, and claims that he did not deal with criminal investigations “in recent years.”
“It is clear that this is another attempt by Levin to find someone who will serve his agenda,” the group alleges, saying it will work “with all available legal tools to thwart this appointment.”