Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided to appoint Professor Daniel Friedman, winner of the 1991 Israel Prize for achievements in the field of law, on Tuesday. Friedman is to replace Haim Ramon as Israel’s new justice minister.
Sources said the two other top candidates were former education minister and Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) President Amnon Rubinstein, and the institution's current president, Uriel Reichman.
Rubinstein’s two reservations of accepting the position were his age, 75, and his commitment to begin a six-month sabbatical at Columbia University in New York in the fall.
There has been no permanent justice minister since August 2006, following former Justice Minister Haim Ramon's indictment.
Olmert believed Ramon would be acquitted and had Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni act as justice minister.