Attorney-General Gali Baharav Miara is "the most dangerous person in the country" and "should have been removed already yesterday" due to her "support of the protestors" against the judicial reforms, Minister in the Justice Ministry, Regional Cooperation Minister, and Ministerial Liaison to the Knesset Dudi Amsalem (Likud) said in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday.
"She is a security liability and a true danger to the country's stability. She is the most dangerous person in the state of Israel until we remove her from there, and we should have removed her already yesterday," Amsalem said.
The government was not really in power, and the bureaucrats were the ones who were deciding everything, Amsalem charged.
"Yesterday they [the protestors against the judicial reforms] shut down the trains – and everything is fine. The airport – everything is fine. The country is in chaos, everything is fine … There is a de-facto rebellion in the IDF. And who is this attorney-general? She is busy blow drying and curling her hair and does not hear anything," Amsalem said.
Amsalem's comments came after Baharav-Miara said on Tuesday that that the government had pressured law enforcement to change its treatment of the protests against the judicial reforms. Earlier this week, she outlined in a document filed to the cabinet the police and law enforcement apparatus' tools and policies regarding the protests, and denied claims by many ministers that the protestors against the judicial reforms were receiving preferred treatment.
Amsalem's comments draw criticism by opposition leaders
"The attorney-general is defined today by the Shin Bet as being threatened at the highest level. If you wondered why, now you have the answer," opposition head and Yesh Atid chairman MK Yair Lapid said.
היועמ״שית מוגדרת היום בידי השב״כ כמי שנמצאת בדרגת האיום הגבוהה ביותר. אם תהיתם למה - הנה התשובה. pic.twitter.com/GHc4dsMi9h
— יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) July 19, 2023
National Unity chairman MK Benny Gantz wrote on Twitter, "In a normal country, Amsalem would publish an apology or be fired, but in [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's government of extremists, incitement and bloodletting of gatekeepers and turning them into enemies has become a work plan."
Gantz added that he "strengthened the attorney-general" and called on her to "continue fulfilling her role without fear."
במדינה מתוקנת אמסלם היה מפרסם התנצלות או מפוטר, אבל בממשלת הקיצוניים של נתניהו, ההסתה והתרת דמם של שומרי הסף והפיכתם לאויבים - הפכו לשיטת עבודה.מחזק את היועמ״שית וקורא לה להמשיך למלא את תפקידה ללא מורא. pic.twitter.com/wxNxQAezcO
— בני גנץ - Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) July 19, 2023
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel (MQG) also rejected what it called "the dangerous and perverse comments," and called on the prime minister to immediately reject them as well.
"Over and over again, Amsalem has attempted to damage Israel's gatekeepers … all under a guise of ideology. His conduct is tainted by foreign interests and this is what harms the state of Israel and its security – not the attorney-general," MQG said.
The students' protest organization said in a statement that they "condemned with revulsion" Amsalem's comments. "This government attempts to trample anything that is for the general good, anything that is professional, and the foundations upon which this country is built. That is what we are fighting for," the students' organization added.