A long-simmering rivalry between two leaders of the Israeli right erupted into a public row on Monday over efforts to fire the attorney general, affecting a crucial budget vote.
The spat between National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir of the Otzma Yehudit Party and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionism Party led the former to vote on Monday against the proposed national budget.
The budget nonetheless passed a first reading, but the opposition to it by senior coalition members reflected major cracks between coalition partners to the right of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party.
Ben-Gvir’s party said that the vote against the budget was over Smotrich’s wavering regarding the push to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara. Smotrich’s party denied this, and called the vote against the budget irresponsible.
One of the most dramatic displays of disunity within Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition, the argument portends discipline issues and governing problems amid preparations by the left-wing and center opposition for a fresh wave of protests demanding early elections.
In explaining the vote against the budget, a spokesperson for Otzma Yehudit wrote in a statement Monday: “In light of the fact that Smotrich insists on being the attorney general’s life jacket and that coalition leaders are bowing to him, the entire Otzma Yehudit faction will vote against the budget.”
Religious Zionism denied that it or Smotrich is protecting Baharav-Miara, whom many on the right want to see fired for what they view as her overstepping her authority and frequent insubordination.
“All of the ministers and lawmakers of Religious Zionism support the decision made yesterday,” the party said in a statement, referencing a meeting by coalition leaders in which they reportedly agreed to pursue the attorney general’s dismissal.
Religious Zionism accused Otzma Yehudit of pursuing “childish politics” that risk toppling “a right-wing government moments before [U.S. President-elect Donald] Trump” enters office … This risks turning the attorney general issue into the subject of political horse-trading, “and could lead the High Court of Justice to strike down the dismissal,” the statement also read.
Netanyahu’s coalition has 68 seats out 120 in Israel’s Knesset. Religious Zionism, which has seven seats, and Otzma Yehudit, which has six, ran together in the 2022 general elections but separated into two factions. They compete over similar demographics and represent different streams within the broader religious-Zionist movement. Ben-Gvir has often demonstrated a more uncompromising attitude relative to Smotrich’s approach, whose advocates say is more pragmatic.
The first reading of the budget passed by a majority of 59 to 57. Four lawmakers were absent during the vote, according to the official voting record on the Knesset website.
Ben-Gvir posted on Facebook on Monday that the decision to vote against the budget followed a series of cancelations of concrete steps he demanded be taken in preparation for the attorney general’s dismissal. The issue, he wrote, was taken off the agenda for the next Cabinet meeting upon Smotrich’s insistence.
“Everyone was in agreement but Bezalel Smotrich vetoed it,” Ben-Gvir said about setting a date for a discussion on concrete steps toward a dismissal.
The attorney general’s authority is a major bone of contention in the conflict between the right and the left in Israel about the proper extent of the judiciary’s powers.
The attorney general’s powers have been allowed to inflate gradually. Many believe this is without legal grounds, and compromises democratic principles. Others describe the attorney general, who is appointed by the government, as part of the judiciary’s checks and balances on the government.
In November, Baharv-Miara told Netanyahu in a letter that he should “reevaluate” his position on Ben-Gvir’s tenure as minister. She has refused to represent the government in several court cases, although pleading for the government is part of the legally codified descriptions of her responsibilities.
Baharav-Miara then refused to allow the government to be represented by a third party, including in May at a High Court of Justice hearing about the government’s military conscription policies. She has blocked several promotions and dismissals in the executive branch, including within the police, which is overseen by Ben-Gvir’s ministry.
Firing the attorney general would require receiving a report on this by the Advisory Committee for the Appointment of Senior Civil Service Officials, Justice Minister Yariv Levin said at a meeting on Sunday, as well as a Cabinet vote.
The discussions about firing Baharav-Miara are part of an apparent resumption of the polarizing conflict, which escalated in January 2023, about the balance of power between elected officials and other civil servants, especially from the judicial branch.
Netanyahu’s current government, which entered into office on Dec. 29, 2022, advanced a judicial reform that aims to place a limit on the judiciary’s powers. This drive, led by Levin, led to a succession of turbulent street protests. The reform was put on hold after Oct. 7, 2023, when the Hamas-led invasion of the northwestern Negev triggered the ongoing regional war.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid, chairman of the Yesh Atid Party, in a speech Monday blamed the judicial-reform effort for causing the Hamas invasion, in which about 6,000 terrorists murdered some 1,200 people and abducted another 250.
“This is what happens when the government weakens the country from within. We haven’t gotten out of it yet, and they’re already dragging us back there,” he said. Lapid added that his party would try to ram through judges’ appointments using its representative on the Judicial Selection Committee.
Lapid has warned in the past that dismissing Baharav-Miara would “lead to chaos.”
The attorney general has the power to depose the prime minister if she feels he cannot fulfill his duties, the Supreme Court ruled in January. Many of Netanyahu’s detractors have called on Baharav-Miara to depose him, citing his corruption trial. Netanyahu denies the allegations against him.