"The State Prosecutor's conduct is shameful and anti-
democratic. They simply are unable to respond to the serious
claims against them and therefore just did not come to the
committee meeting. And even worse is that Justice Minister
Chaim Ramon stands here before us and defends them. If he
defends such a scandal he should resign," said MK Rabbi Moshe
Gafni during a meeting of the Knesset Interior Committee on
the original demand to perform an autopsy on a baby girl who
passed away in Ashdod. The demand incensed the chareidi
community and led to disturbances and confrontations with
police, not to mention hateful criticism in the press.
Last week the Knesset plenum held a discussion on Rabbi
Gafni's Knesset motion regarding the demand to perform an
autopsy on the baby from Ashdod. At the end of the meeting a
decision was reached to hand over the issue to the Internal
Affairs Committee meeting that was scheduled for Monday 16
Sivan. Various officials were invited to the meeting,
including representatives from the State Prosecutor's Office.
It was the State Prosecutor's office that had been demanding
the autopsy in Ashdod and therefore was the cause of the
entire affair.
But on Sunday, Deputy State Prosecutor Elad Rosenthal
notified Committee Chairman MK Raleb Majadele (Labor) that no
representatives from the State Prosecutor's Office would be
attending the meeting, saying that the case is still pending
in court and in investigation. "As a matter of policy," wrote
Rosenthal, "representatives of the State Prosecutor's Office
do not appear before Knesset committees regarding cases where
there are pending legal decisions or cases under
investigation since these matters are still under evaluation
and review by the judicial authority. As such,
representatives from the State Prosecutor's Office will not
attend the upcoming meetings."
MK Majadele forwarded the letter to Knesset Legal Advisor
Atty. Nurit Elstein, who wrote a long, detailed letter to
State Prosecutor Eran Shendar stating the State Prosecutor is
required to attend the committee meeting since the decision
to hold the meeting was made by the Knesset plenum and civil
servants are obligated to honor the Knesset's decisions.
She quoted Paragraph 21 of the Knesset Foundation Law, which
states that committees are authorized to summon civil service
officeholders and to require them to share information on
activity at the body in which they serve. The law does also
permit the minister in charge of that official or civil
servant to appear in his stead to pass on the required
information.
At the conclusion of her letter, Elstein wrote that the
Foundation Law and the Knesset Code can require state
representatives to appear before Knesset committees
regardless of any claims they make — including cases
pending legal decisions and investigations. Thus
representatives of the State Prosecutor would have to appear
at the committee meeting or else the Justice Minister would
have to attend in their place. Minister Ramon then gave
notice that he would attend the meeting himself.
Committee Chairman MK Majadele lodged harsh criticism against
the State Prosecutor for not attending the meeting. "I intend
to discuss this with the Knesset Chairman and we will decide
which steps to take," he said. Minister Ramon supported the
State Prosecutor's decision.
During the meeting MK Rabbi Gafni said that the State of
Israel has a law prohibiting autopsies without the family's
consent, adding that this law must be enforced just like any
other law on the books. "I closely followed the events that
transpired in Ashdod," he told the committee. "I spoke with
police officials and learned they did not ask for an autopsy
of the child. They had no hand in this. I also spoke with
other officials involved and tried to persuade them not to
autopsy the body, but the Southern District Attorney insisted
on his demand to perform an autopsy and the court approved
this demand. Today people from the Prosecutor's Office did
not come to the meeting because they simply have no answers
to the claims against them. They are unable to confront the
simple question of why they demanded to perform an autopsy in
violation of the law and despite the fact the police did not
demand this."
Ashdod Councilman Rabbi Moshe Bourstein (UTJ) told the
committee that the chareidi community in Ashdod does not have
grievances against the police, which has always had good
relations with the local kehilloh, but against the
State Prosecutor for ordering an autopsy without
justification as evident from the fact the police did not
request an autopsy.
Other representatives of Ashdod's chareidi community also
attended the committee meeting, including Atty. Rabbi Moshe
Elmaliach, Rabbi Roshgold, Rabbi Osher Levy, Rabbi Moshe
Greenbaum and Atty. Rafael Shtubb.
Knesset Legal Advisor Atty. Elstein spoke very earnestly on
the issue, recalling a battle she had to wage to prevent an
autopsy from being performed on her granddaughter, even
though the cause of death was perfectly clear.
Atty. Elstein also lodged criticism against Health Ministry
representatives, citing contradictions between their remarks
and remarks made by chareidi representatives in Ashdod.
