Coalition leaders reportedly agreed in principle on how to move forward with the controversial firing of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.
The effort to oust the attorney general has been pushed for weeks by far-right coalition lawmakers, but even amid the flurry of reports on Monday regarding developments toward that goal, it is unclear whether the initiative has enough support, given the widespread protests it will likely trigger.
Communication Minister Shlomo Karhi, who has been one of the most vocal supporters of the move failed to secure the support of a majority of ministers in a letter on the subject that he circulated last month.
The Kan public broadcaster said coalition leaders decided during a Monday meeting to begin the process of firing Baharav-Miara by holding a preliminary hearing at a cabinet meeting during which she would be asked to defend her record.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir demanded that the hearing take place at the next cabinet meeting on Sunday, but ministers decided to allow Justice Minister Yariv Levin to decide on the timing, the Kan public broadcaster reported.
No statement was issued to the public about the coalition decision, though, with Kan saying Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Shas MK Yinon Azoulay asked that the ruling bloc hold off on the move. The public broadcaster did not provide a reason why but Sa’ar and Azoulay are slightly less hardline end of the spectrum within the coalition and appear to have been uncomfortable going public with the controversial effort at this stage.
Channel 12 reported that the coalition heads decided against issuing a public statement so that the decision would not be perceived as a politically motivated one, given that Ben Gvir had issued an ultimatum threatening to collapse the government if Baharav-Miara isn’t fired.
Levin wasn’t even in the room when the decision was made because he stormed out earlier due to frustration with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Hebrew media said.
Smotrich had urged the coalition leaders to advance legislation to split the role of attorney general in order to limit the power of the gatekeeper position.
For his part, Smotrich denied that the issue of the Judicial Selection Committee even came up during the Monday meeting. His office issued a statement calling reports claiming otherwise to be “puzzling.”
Levin immediately pushed back against the effort, arguing that he wants to prioritize his own controversial legislation to alter the makeup of the Judicial Selection Committee in the government’s favor. The justice minister is facing a January 16 deadline for the panel to appoint a new Supreme Court chief justice and he has been aiming to pass his bill in time to ensure that a more conservative judge will be appointed.
Frustrated over the lack of backing he felt he was receiving from coalition lawmakers, Levin left the meeting in protest, Kan said.
Despite the lack of public statement, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi appeared to confirm the widespread reports that the coalition had agreed to move forward with Baharav-Miara’s ouster.
“The decision of the coalition leaders to begin the process of dismissing the attorney general is a courageous and necessary step to correct serious distortions that have taken root in the Israeli legal system.”
“The time has come to restore the balance between the authorities and end the unchecked rule of unelected officials,” the far-right minister added.
He further called the process of removing Baharav-Miara “an important step on the path to freeing the State of Israel from the shackles of extremist legal activism.”
National Unity chair Benny Gantz slammed the government’s conduct in his own statement regarding the developments.
“Instead of meeting to discuss the reconstruction of the north and the south, this detached government is dealing with ambushing the attorney general,” Gantz wrote on X.
The Yesh Atid opposition party issued a similar statement blasting the reported decision.
“The evening three heroes fell fighting in Gaza was also the evening the coalition celebrated the advancement of the attorney general’s firing,” the party said in a statement. “There is a painful disconnect between those who give their lives for the country and those who take everything from it.”
Yisrael Beytenu chief Avigdor Liberman also criticized the government, tweeting that, rather than working to return the hostages held in Gaza or draft ultra-Orthodox Israelis to the military, the coalition is taking the “reckless” action of firing the attorney general.
“A government that abandons its soldiers and citizens and prioritizes preserving the coalition over our security is unfit to lead the State of Israel,” Liberman argues.
A growing number of coalition lawmakers and cabinet ministers have called to fire the attorney general due to their frustration with her refusal to defend various controversial and unprecedented measures the government seeks to advance, which Baharav-Miara has determined would be unlawful.
The disagreements — over issues ranging from the selection of the civil service commissioner to daycare subsidies for draft dodgers — have increased during ongoing investigations into alleged wrongdoing by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aides.
Levin was the key driving force last year behind the government’s judicial overhaul initiative, which sought to advance legislation aimed at radically watering down the authority of judges or judicial officials to act as a check on the cabinet or Knesset. The hugely divisive program sparked unprecedented nationwide demonstrations and made little headway before being put on the back burner following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack and ensuing war in Gaza.
Recent weeks have seen Levin and the judiciary cross swords anew over the justice minister’s refusal to convene the Judicial Selection Committee and have it confirm Justice Isaac Amit as Supreme Court president. Levin, who views Amit as too liberal, has attempted to block his appointment for more than a year in hopes of installing committee members more in line with the government’s agenda.