Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin announced formal proceedings on Wednesday evening to dismiss Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, accusing her of being “the long arm of the government’s opponents.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has lost confidence in Baharav-Miara “in light of her inappropriate conduct and substantial and prolonged differences of opinion between her and the government, creating a situation preventing effective cooperation,” Levin wrote to Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs.
Baharav-Miara has spared “no effort to thwart the will of the voter,” the Israeli justice minister charged in the letters, accusing her of using the political divide in the country “as a spade to dig out two legal systems—one for the government’s supporters and the other for its opponents.”
Levin in the missives asked Ohana and Fuchs to fill the empty positions on the public committee for appointing and dismissing the AG, as well as to put the issue on the government’s agenda as soon as possible.
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. Netanyahu has often clashed with Baharav-Miara, who was appointed by then-Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in 2022.
On Feb. 24, Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi announced that Netanyahu’s government intended to start proceedings to remove Baharav-Miara from her position “in the next two to three weeks.”
“The justice minister prepared a hearing with hundreds of examples of illegal activity—things that are inconceivable for an attorney-general to do,” said Karhi of Baharav-Miara, speaking during a panel last week at the annual Jerusalem Convention of the B’Sheva weekly and Arutz 7.
“There is no scenario in which she will remain in her position,” said Karhi, who has spearheaded the process with Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin. “The law states that the AG’s role is to advise and assist the government in advancing policy—not to block it from within,” he added.
Karhi welcomed Levin’s announcement on Wednesday evening, writing on X: “Congratulations to my friend, the minister of justice, for keeping his word. We promised, and we are delivering. Go home!”
Yoav Kisch, Israel’s minister of education, also voiced support for Baharav-Miara’s dismissal, accusing the AG of “opposing the government’s activities from the very first moment.”
‘Inventing absurd legal impediments’
Meanwhile, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid Party) condemned the move as “criminal, violent and unconstitutional.
“Yariv Levin decided to tear apart Israeli society during a time of war,” said Lapid, vowing to do “everything necessary” to thwart him.
Karhi launched his effort to remove Baharav-Miara in December, charging her with “deliberately thwarting government policy for political reasons” and “inventing absurd legal impediments.”
The initiative came a month after Netanyahu tasked Levin with finding a solution to what he described as adversarial legal advice from the AG.
“Following severe criticism by the government ministers of the attorney general, the prime minister clarified that the attorney general is expected to assist the government in implementing the government’s decisions and promoting bills on its behalf—and not the other way around,” Netanyahu said following a Cabinet discussion in November.