Minister of Education in PM Netanyahu’s transitional government, Rabbi Rafi Peretz (Rightwing Union) on Sunday decided not to extend the term of Planning and Budgeting Committee member Prof. Yossi Shain of Tel Aviv University. One of Peretz’s candidates to replace Shane is former National Union MK and former chief of the IDF medical corps Prof. Arieh Eldad, TheMarker reported.
Commission officials said Shain’s tenure was not renewed because of his opposition to the establishment of the school of medicine at Ariel University.
In February 2019, Prof. Shain was part of the maneuver imposed by the Attorney General to nix a previous committee vote that favored establishing a medical school in Ariel University; two members of the panel were removed for a variety of reasons and a vote was then taken again before then education minister Naftali Bennett had a chance to replace them. The undemocratic ambush has since been settled and AU will have its medical school.
Aryeh Eldad, son of renowned revisionist statesman Israel Eldad, is a resident of Kfar Adumim, and is the rightwing half of a popular drive-time political show on 103.5 FM radio. He served several terms in the Knesset as part of the rightwing party which has evolved into today’s Otzma Yehudit.
Minister Peretz decided to end Shain’s tenure against the recommendation of former deputy president of Bar-Ilan university and planning and budgeting committee chairman Prof. Yaffa Zilbershats, who sought to extend Shain’s term. Towards the end of Shain’s term, Zilbershats announced at a committee meeting that she would like to extend his membership for another term, in part because he currently serves on the committee for integrating Ethiopian immigrants into academia.