Justice Minister begins process to oust Attorney General

Israel’s Minister of Justice Yariv Levin has begun proceedings to oust Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara. In a letter to Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs, he wrote, “Given the importance of the issue, I would like you to announce the date of the meeting as soon as possible, to let all ministers to organize themselves appropriately to participate in the meeting. The presence of an absolute majority of cabinet ministers is vital.”

Levin was contacting the cabinet ministers, following the coalition party leaders’ forum last November that decided to advance the move to oust Baharav-Miara. The Minister of Justice is requesting, as part of the proposal, a vote of no confidence in the Attorney General, viewing her conduct as inappropriate, and due to “the existence of substantial and prolonged differences of opinion between the cabinet and the Attorney General, which create a situation that prevents effective cooperation.”

Levin insists that the Attorney General has created a “democracy of extortion” in Israel. He claims that “while she speaks about the values of democracy, in reality she has pulverized to dust the very principles in whose name she claims to act.” He further claims that the Attorney General has turned the institution of legal advice into “a tyrannical political authority, at times violent and truly predatory. The Attorney General acts as the long arm of the government’s opponents, and does not hesitate to use any means to thwart the will of the electorate.”

Levin added, “She has used the political divide in Israel as a hatchet to dig into it two legal systems – one for the government’s supporters and the other for its opponents. In the history of the State of Israel, nothing has contributed more to fueling disputes between the camps than this perverse policy of discrimination, on behalf of someone who is supposed to serve as a model of justice and equality. The Attorney General has taken for herself almost unlimited, unbridled power, and has made crude and ugly political use of it, in the deceptive guise of professionalism and objectivity”.

Levin seeks to remove the Attorney General not only from her professional duties over legislative moves and government actions, but also on decisions to open a criminal investigation. He claims that she did not act against the blocking of roads as part of the protests against the judicial overhaul or against calls for refusal to serve in the IDF. He also charges that she refused to open an investigation into leaks from confidential discussions by the political and security cabinet and the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.”

Opposition leader MK Yair Lapid said, “Yariv Levin has decided to dismantle Israeli society in the middle of a war. Levin, one of the main people responsible for the October 7 disaster, has learned nothing. He is damaging the country, damaging the rule of law, and damaging the war effort. His move to dismiss the Attorney General is criminal, violent and unconstitutional, and we will do everything necessary to thwart him.”

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on March 6, 2025.

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2025.