Two days before the closing of party lists for the general election for the 25th Knesset, Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu announced the candidates he was inserting into his party’s list, as part of his prerogative. “Today I bring additional strength to our team: Amichai Chikli, Idit Silman, Attorney Moshe Saada, Dr. Tsega Melaku, and Attorney Yossi Fuchs. They’re all talented, all worthy, and all have had significant achievements, each in their fields. Together with all our team members, we will bring four years of stability to Israel with a strong and stable national government.”
Chikli, Silman, and Saada made it into the Knesset. Melaku, an Ethiopian Jew, was placed in the 37th spot and didn’t make it – but she could still get in through the Norwegian law (Knesset Passes ‘Norwegian Law’ to Help Ministers-Rich Blue&White Party Add MKs). Fuchs was placed in the unrealistic 43rd spot.
On Sunday, Fuchs was appointed Government Secretary, the second most important civil servant job next to the Attorney General.
Attorney Yossi Fuchs, 50, married to Racheli, father of six and grandfather of one granddaughter, was born in Brooklyn and made Aliyah with his parents at one year of age in 1974. He grew up in Rehovot and then in Jerusalem, and these days his home is in Neve Daniel, a settlement in Judea, in western Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem and west of Bethlehem. Neve Daniel sits atop one of the highest points in the area – close to 1,000 meters above sea level, and has a view of much of the Mediterranean coastal plain, as well as the Jordanian mountains.
Yossi Fuchs is about as “one of us” as can be. He studied at the “Netiv Meir,” “Hakotel,” and “Heichal Eliyahu” yeshivas, served in the IDF in the Golani Brigade, and currently serves in the reserves with the rank of Captain in the northern division. He graduated from Bar Ilan University and has practiced law since 1998, specializing in constitutional and administrative law. He was one of the leaders of the legal fight against the disengagement plan and is still involved in helping the displaced Jews of Gush Katif.
In 2009, Fuchs was the representative of the Judea and Samaria municipalities in the subcommittee of the Foreign and Security Committee to reduce the construction freeze. He fought against corruption in the murky affairs of Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert, Avraham Hirschson, and Moshe Katsav.
In 2015, he ran in the Habayit Hayehudi primaries with the hope of spearheading parliamentary action against the judicial activism of the High Court of Justice, by amending the basic laws – quite similar to the effort being spearheaded today by Justice Minister Yariv Levin (Likud). He said at the time: “Every party that wants to be in government needs to have one MK who is an attorney with knowledge and experience of constitutional law, like MK Yariv Levin.”
Indeed.
So, anyone who believes that PM Netanyahu is planning to sabotage or at least slow down Minister Levin’s campaign to reform Israel’s justice system should consider his choice of Yossi Fuchs to become Government Secretary.
His appointment makes Netanyahu’s sixth government the one with the biggest number of settlers. If the Bibi team one day decides to have a friendly basketball game, there are these five settlers who should be able to play well together:
- Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, a resident of Rimonim in the Binyamin Regional Council
- National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a resident of Givat HaAvot in Kiryat Arba
- National Missions Minister Orit Strock, a resident of Hebron
- Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a resident of Kedumim
- Chairman of the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee Simcha Rothman, a resident of Penei Kedem in Gush Etzion
- And now Yossi Fuchs from Neve Daniel
May they make every free throw.
