On Sunday, Minister of the Environment Tamar Zandberg will approve the appointment of former Meretz chairman Yossi Beilin as chairman of the Nature and Parks Authority. Even before the issue was raised for approval, a number of Knesset members announced that they opposed the appointment, and even called for his arrest, some in light of Beilin’s political views, and some in light of the fact that such an appointment should not be approved after the Knesset dissolves and as long as a transitional government is in power.
Minister of Communications Member of Knesset Joaz Handel (New hope) stated that “there is no reason to bring such an appointment during the election period, and without certainty that the incoming chairman will preserve the national sites in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria.”
Member of Knesset Ophir Sofer (Religious Zionism) appealed to the Attorney General, Gali Bahrav Myara, demanding that she stop Beilin’s appointment as chairman of the Nature and Parks Authority and postpone the decision on the appointment until a permanent government is formed in Israel.
In his letter, MK Sofer noted that “in light of the fact that the appointment is made by a transitional government, and that the term of the RTG chairman has been elected here for a full four years, there is reason to be flawed in the decision-making proposal for the cabinet meeting and certainly in Mr. Beilin’s appointment.” .
Also the chairmen of the Eretz Israel lobby, members of the Knesset Yoav Kish and Orit Struck (Likud), expressed strong opposition to the appointment. A letter sent to the “right-wing government ministers” states that “such an appointment would undoubtedly bring disaster to the sites of the Nature and Parks Authority in Judea and Samaria or in the eastern part of Jerusalem, that Beilin, as an extreme leftist and one of the Oslo leaders, would do everything in his power to harm them. “.
The leaders of the lobby added that “Article 18A of the Government Labor Code allows you (through the alternate prime minister on your behalf) to remove the issue from the government agenda. We demand that you act immediately to cancel this scandalous appointment, through the right granted to the alternate prime minister.”
Member of Knesset Orly Levy-Abacus (Likud) also addressed the issue and said: “Promise without many ministers? So promise. Promise without Norwegians? So promise. Promise without jobs? Did you laugh at the irony. The production line of the jobs works, and the truth? Works pretty well.”