Court blocks Sharon appointment

Ehud Yatom called the court ruling "absurd"

Israel's High Court has ruled that a former senior security agent who admitted killing two Palestinian prisoners is unfit to take up the post of chief counter-terrorism adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Ehud Yatom said in an interview five years ago that he had used a rock to crush the skulls of two Palestinians shortly after they were captured during a bus hijacking in 1984.

I acted for the security of my country

Ehud Yatom

Mr Yatom, a brother of an ex-Mossad chief, Israel's external security organisation, called the court ruling "absurd":

"The decision shows that the court is disconnected from the nation", the former Shin Bet operative said.

"I acted for the security of my country."

The petition against the appointment by Prime Minister Sharon had been brought by two deputies of Israel's left-wing Meretz Party.

Mr Sharon said he would not interfere in the court's ruling, although he felt Mr Yatom was fit for the anti-terrorism position.

Cover-up

The killings in 1984, known as the "Bus 300 Affair", were originally covered up.

A government report later revealed that the Shin Bet chief at the time, Avraham Shalom, had ordered the two Palestinians killed.

Ehud Yatom and 10 other Shin Bet personnel involved in the incident were pardoned in 1986 by the then-president Chaim Herzog.

The High Court said on Thursday, the order Mr Yatom was given 17 years ago was illegal and should not have been carried out.

Mr Yatom is now considering running for a seat in Israel's parliament, the Knesset.