The government on Monday unanimously approved Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s proposal to dismiss Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara. In response, the High Court of Justice issued an injunction against the decision.
In the latest clash between the judiciary and the government, the court said no aspect of the attorney-general’s position is to be changed until a future decision is handed down and that the government cannot name a replacement.
The government and Attorney-General’s Office have until Thursday to respond. The court said a hearing on the matter would take place within 30 days.
In a ruling last month, Supreme Court Deputy Chief Justice Noam Sohlberg said no measure to dismiss the attorney-general would be valid until the decision is reviewed by the court.
Although Baharav-Miara has not officially been ousted from her role, cabinet ministers have said they would stop inviting her to government hearings and committee meetings effective immediately.
The “government had reached its redline” with the attorney-general, Levin said at the beginning of the meeting to dismiss her, following large protests surrounding the issue.
During the meeting, Levin said the government had “conducted a very lengthy process before reaching today’s discussion. For a very long time, attempts were made to work with her [Baharav-Miara] cooperatively.”
He rejected accusations that the attorney-general’s firing was related to the ongoing trial against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying such claims were an “extremely dangerous insinuation.”
Since one of the roles of the attorney-general is to be the chief prosecutor for Netanyahu’s trial, a main issue in her firing has been that there might be a conflict of interest.
Following the government’s decision to fire Baharav-Miara, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel said it had already submitted a petition to the High Court that was signed by more than 15,000 people.
“The petition exposes the clear flaws in the decision, including a clear conflict of interest of the prime minister, who is accused of crimes,” said the nonprofit organization, which aims to promote democracy in Israel.
“The government will meet us in court,” it said.
The NGO also added that while it welcomed “the High Court's decision to freeze the illegal dismissal,” it criticized the move for coming “too late.”
The NGO also said it welcomed “the High Court’s decision to freeze the illegal dismissal,” but it criticized the move for coming “too late.”
“This invalid and unconstitutional procedure should not have been allowed in the first place,” the Movement for Quality Government in Israel said.
Protests outside of the government meeting were held throughout Monday. Thousands of protesters attended demonstrations in Tel Aviv on Sunday in support of Baharav-Miara.
The protest on Monday outside the government meeting was led by The Democrats MKs.
At the protest, The Democrats chairman Yair Golan criticized the government for firing the attorney-general while hostages remain captive in Gaza and the Israel-Hamas War continues.
“Just beyond the fences around the nearby building, a government meeting is taking place right now – a meeting that is not dealing with the release of the hostages, the end of the war, replacing Hamas rule in Gaza, Israel’s security, the rehabilitation of the Gaza border communities, the cost of living, or the recovery of our healthcare system,” he said.
“Even in these harsh times, the government of Israel focuses only on itself,” Golan said.
Ahead of the cabinet’s vote, Baharav-Miara, in a letter to the government, said the way it has gone about dismissing her is against the law and riddled with disingenuous political motivations.
A-G chose not to attend her dismissal hearing
She did not attend the meeting.
Levin criticized Baharav-Miara for not attending this meeting and previous meetings regarding her position.
“When a civil servant, no matter how senior, is invited to appear before the government and chooses not to come, it shows disrespect,” he said at the meeting. “It also shows that the legal adviser exploited her rights.”
The legal protocol for hiring or dismissing an attorney-general was codified in 2000, following the Shamgar Commission and the Bar-On-Hebron Affair. The hiring or dismissal could happen relatively quickly so that the position can be filled promptly, according to the code.
The government was unable to fulfill the necessary requirements to establish a committee to fire the A-G.
According to protocol, the committee must be made up of a retired Supreme Court justice as chairperson, appointed by the Supreme Court president and by approval of the justice minister; a former justice minister or attorney-general, chosen by the government; an MK, chosen by the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee; a lawyer, chosen by the Israel Bar Association; and a legal academic, selected by the deans of the law faculties.
Due to being unable to fill the positions, a new committee was created by the government to fire the A-G.
The government wrote last month in its position penned by Levin and Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli (Likud), who chairs the committee, that it could not fill the positions because all relevant former attorneys-general and justice ministers opposed the government’s decision.
The dismissal is “the removal of one of the main and last checks that existed in Israeli jurisprudence on the power of the government,” Baharav-Miara wrote Monday ahead of the vote.