Gali Baharav-Miara, Israel’s attorney general, requested a temporary injunction from the Israeli High Court of Justice on Monday to halt the Netanyahu coalition’s push to dismiss her via a ministerial committee and to block any additional government actions related to her removal.
“The process of ending the term of office of the Attorney General has become a purely political process,” she said in a statement to the High Court.
While the government can decide on the termination of an attorney general, the decision could only be made after a recommendation by a public professional committee composed of justices, lawyers, academics and ministers.
However, in a unanimous decision on June 8, the Cabinet altered the method by which an attorney general is dismissed, so that the justice minister can submit a request to a committee comprising five government ministers.
After a hearing by the committee, a vote to dismiss would be brought before the full Cabinet, which would need to pass the decision with at least 75% of the ministers in favor.
“The government hasn’t been able to establish a public-professional committee that will support the termination of the attorney general’s term as required, and only afterwards did it promote a full political takeover of the process,” Baharav-Miara stated.
A date of June 17 was originally set to allow the attorney general to present her arguments at a ministerial committee meeting against her dismissal. That date was canceled due to the Israeli airstrikes against Iran, “Operation Rising Lion.”
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, who heads the ministerial committee, set a new date of July 14.
Chikli wrote that calls for Baharav-Miara’s dismissal fall against the backdrop of “inappropriate conduct and substantial and prolonged differences of opinion between the government and the attorney general, creating a situation that prevents effective cooperation.”
Coalition ministers have long voiced their dissatisfaction with the attorney general, who they say has thrown up obstacles against their decisions at every turn.
On Monday, for example, Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin criticized her for blocking the appointment of Israel Defense Forces Maj. Gen. David Zini as the next head of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet).
He accused her of “inventing a conflict of interest” in the case of Zini while “exploiting the state’s resources to prevent her own replacement,” in which there was “a clear conflict of interest.”
