Deputy Attorney General Avi Licht has resigned, a week after he complained of a rising politicization inside the ranks of the Justice Ministry and interference with its position because the watchdog of democracy.
Licht was thought of probably the most senior of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit’s deputies. From 2010-2016 he served as deputy lawyer basic for financial issues. From 2016 onward he was deputy lawyer basic for administration and particular duties.
Licht made the announcement on Monday.
Per week earlier than his resignation, Licht spoke at a roundtable of the Israel Democracy Institute assume tank the place he could have hinted at his motives for resigning.
“There is a feeling of declining professionalism in the civil service of the Justice Ministry and we find ourselves, unlike in previous years, operating in a space where we are not given legitimacy.”
“In opposition to the ideology we were raised on, a new ideology had arisen, and I am not judging which is correct,” he added.
“There has always been opposition to the work of the Justice Ministry, but in recent years, our role as a watchdog, advancing the public interest and human rights, are seen among increasingly large groups of people — including in the Knesset and government — as illegitimate. A new ideological approach has arisen that sees what we do as prohibited. This approach can be summed up with the words: “Who put you in charge?”
Licht is a 20-year veteran of the Justice Ministry. He was prominently concerned in the federal government’s pure fuel plan, the Communications Ministry reform that opened the cellphone market to competitors and the institution of Kan, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation.