The government changed the rules of the game as it was happening when it came to the firing of Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara – the chief prosecutor in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criminal trials – in order to ensure her removal, she wrote in an advisory opinion on Sunday evening.
The politicized process is “invalid from the start,” wrote Baharav-Miara, ahead of the hearing before the High Court of Justice on the matter on Wednesday, to determine the legality of the government decision to fire her.
In early August, the government unanimously approved Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s proposal to dismiss her. The High Court immediately issued an injunction, freezing the decision until it could undergo judicial review.
Baharav-Miara wrote on Monday that the decision “fundamentally changes the very essence of the legal adviser and the chief prosecutor” – the two hats the attorney-general wears – “such that they remove one of the central and sole democratic checks on governmental power.”
Levin at the time rejected accusations that her firing was related to the ongoing criminal trial against Netanyahu – the hearings of which are set to resume next week – and called such claims “extremely dangerous insinuations.”
Since one of the roles of the attorney-general is to be the chief prosecutor for the prime minister’s trial, a main issue in her firing has been that there might be a conflict of interest.
Protocol for hiring and dismissing the attorney-general
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 commission established a public-professional committee 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.