Israeli Cabinet ministers were set to decide on Monday afternoon regarding the dismissal of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, after the country’s Supreme Court ruled on Sunday that the hearing could go ahead.
The ministerial committee, which is headed by Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli and also includes Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Innovation, Science and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel and Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli, was scheduled to convene at 1:30 p.m. at the Government Secretariat in Jerusalem.
“A hearing was called for the A-G so that she could respond,” committee officials told Israel Hayom on Sunday evening, adding: “We hope she won’t forgo her right to a hearing and will take part in the process.”
It was not immediately clear whether Baharav-Miara would attend or waive her right to present ministers with arguments against her firing.
The vote on her firing was called after the High Court of Justice on Sunday rejected petitions against the dismissal hearing called by the government, with Supreme Court Justice Noam Solberg ruling that “in the absence of a final decision, this is not an irreversible step,” referring to the hearing.
“If there is a change in the factual circumstances, it will be possible to submit an appropriate request again,” added Solberg, who is widely considered to be a conservative judge.
Baharav-Miara had asked the court for a temporary injunction to freeze the government’s push to dismiss her via the ministerial committee hearing, 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 Supreme Court on July 7.
While the government in Israel has the authority to fire an attorney general, in the past such a decision could only be made following the recommendation of a 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 may be dismissed, so that the justice minister can submit a request for the dismissal to a panel comprising five government ministers.
Under the new system, after a hearing by the committee, a vote to dismiss must be brought before the full Cabinet, which needs to pass the decision with at least 75% of the ministers in favor.
Chikli has said that the calls for Baharav-Miara’s firing come 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.”
Israel’s right-wing coalition has been at loggerheads with the attorney general since its formation after the general election of Nov. 1, 2022.
According to Israeli law, Baharav-Miara does not work for the prime minister, as opposed to in the United States, where the attorney general is an agent of the executive branch. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others have often clashed with Baharav-Miara, who was appointed to the post in 2022 by the coalition led by then-premier Naftali Bennett.
