AG: Ben Gvir damaging ‘professional, politically neutral’ character of police

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara told the High Court of Justice on Tuesday that National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is harming the professional and apolitical character of the police and has violated commitments he made to the court to refrain from such interventions.

The attorney general’s submission is critical as it comes in the framework of petitions asking the court to order Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fire the fire-right minister due to actions he has taken, allegedly politicizing the police force.

In light of what Baharav-Miara said were actions by Ben Gvir that harm “the proper, professional and politically neutral activities of the police,” her filing appeared to show that she is no longer prepared to defend his position.

Ben Gvir, in response, accused Baharav-Miara of trying to carry out a “coup” against him, and said the “deep state” would not remove him from office.

The petitions against Ben Gvir allege that he has been exercising unlawful influence over police policy on protests, police appointments, and investigations. In April, the attorney general and Ben-Gvir agreed on a set of principles in which he committed to refrain from such actions, thereby enabling the attorney general to defend him in court.

The High Court accepted that framework in May and asked for periodic updates to assess whether Ben Gvir was abiding by those principles.

Baharav-Miara said in her filing on Tuesday that Ben Gvir was violating them.

“The minister is apparently acting contrary to the principles formulated as guarantees for upholding the law, and continues to conduct himself in contravention of the law, in a manner that is likely to seriously harm the proper operation of the police, its professional independence, and its political neutrality,” she wrote.

In particular, Baharav-Miara noted that Ben Gvir has repeatedly spoken out publicly to delegitimize internal police investigations into police officers, and essentially “justified” the behavior of the officers under investigation.

The attorney general pointed to two recent and prominent examples of such comments by Ben Gvir, saying he had “undermined the rule of law,” and violated his court-approved agreement with the attorney general by publicly backing such officers while investigations against them were underway.

Baharav-Miara also pointed to Ben Gvir’s refusal to give final approval to a promotion for a police officer who has testified against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his criminal trial, and Netanyahu’s senior aide, Jonatan Urich, in the investigations against him.

Ben Gvir cited that testimony to officials in his ministry as his reason for not promoting the officer, the attorney general said.

She also noted that the police commissioner and professional civil servants had told Ben Gvir his reason for holding up the appointment was illegitimate.

“A serious concern has arisen… that the delay in the promotion stems solely from ulterior, political considerations regarding the appointment,” the attorney general wrote.

“The minister’s conduct in this case serves to deter officers and police personnel in general from performing their duties faithfully,” she continued, in particular when giving testimony against cabinet ministers and close associates of government officials.

“This would severely damage the integrity of criminal proceedings and the rule of law, and introduce ulterior considerations into the professional conduct of police officers and investigative officers in particular, with all that this implies,” wrote Baharav-Miara.

She also raised Ben Gvir’s conduct in publishing a document with instructions to police banning different forms of protest, saying that this too violated his agreement with the High Court.

“It appears that in the current state of affairs, there are no effective, sufficient and enforceable guarantees to ensure the rule of law and to prevent political interventions that harm the professional independence and neutrality of the police under the tenure of the minister,” Baharav-Miara concluded and called on the court to set an urgent hearing for the petition.

Ben Gvir accused Baharav-Miara in response of seeking to carry out “a coup” against him and trying to “extort” a serving elected official.

“The deep state will not blackmail elected officials here, and I say clearly: The attorney general has no authority to dismiss ministers who received a mandate from the people,” said Ben Gvir, and vowed to continue to dictate police policy.