AG urges High Court to force Netanyahu to fire Ben Gvir; coalition fumes

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on Wednesday called on the High Court of Justice to order that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fire National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir from his position, unless the premier explains why he hasn’t done so.

In a new legal filing, Baharav-Miara accused Ben Gvir of violating court rulings and showing “contempt for the rule of law” while “systematically undermining the independence of the police.”

As such, she said that, unless there is a significant change and Netanyahu submits a filing justifying why he is not going to fire Ben Gvir, the High Court should put out an order for his removal, “stipulating that he cannot serve as the minister in charge of the Israel Police.”

“The prime minister has extremely broad discretion in matters of appointing ministers and removing them from office…but it is not an unlimited discretion or one that is immune from judicial review,” Baharav-Miara wrote.

In February, the High Court ordered Netanyahu to explain why he hasn’t fired Ben Gvir amid an ongoing court case over the far-right politician’s practices and policies in office.

“There is a concern that the government’s silence on the matter will be interpreted as de facto backing for the minister’s conduct,” Baharav-Miara wrote, noting “the prime minister has a responsibility to act regarding the minister to stop his improper conduct.”

Netanyahu’s office, along with Ben Gvir himself and other right-wing politicians, responded by slamming the attorney-general as an enemy of democracy who is harming the war effort against Iran.

“It is inconceivable that in the midst of an existential war against Iran,” Baharav-Miara is calling for the removal of Ben Gvir, the Prime Minister’s Office said, noting that he “is responsible for internal security during the war.”

The attorney-general’s request “undermines the foundations of democracy, shatters the principle of separation of powers, and contradicts Basic Law: The Government,” it said.

Ben Gvir, the PMO insisted, “will continue to serve in his position.”

Hitting out at Baharav-Miara, Ben Gvir said that “while the State of Israel is engaged in one of the most fateful and important wars in its history, a dismissed criminal official is trying to promote a coup in a democratic country and dismiss an elected official.”

The High Court last December annulled on procedural grounds a government decision to fire Baharav-Miara, leading much of the government to refuse to recognize her authority.

Calling his potential firing an unprecedented move in a democracy, Ben Gvir asserted that the attorney general “thinks we are in Iran and soon she and her fellow criminal officials will establish Revolutionary Guards here.”

“The dismissed attorney general has not stopped for a moment from harming the work of the government, even in times of war,” declared Justice Minister Yariv Levin, echoing Ben Gvir’s rejection of Baharav-Miara’s authority.

Calling the hearing on Ben Gvir’s potential dismissal “illegal,” Levin said that “no judge or attorney general has the authority to replace the Knesset and the prime minister and to determine who will serve as a minister.” That Baharav-Miara is choosing to engage in this at this time, he wrote, “proves once again that she is unfit to serve in any position. Her presence is interfering with the war effort.”

Yair Golan, chairman of The Democrats opposition party, backed Baharav-Miara, calling Ben Gvir “a convicted criminal [and] a dangerous pyromaniac who has taken over the Israel Police.”

“Such a person must be immediately removed from any decision-making position, and all the more so from the central body entrusted with law enforcement in Israel,” he tweeted.

A High Court hearing on petitions calling for Ben Gvir’s dismissal is slated for March 24.

Baharav-Miara has previously accused Ben Gvir of exercising undue influence over the police, a force meant to operate independently, and has said that he has violated a compromise the two agreed on last year. Ben Gvir has maintained that he is fulfilling the will of the voters who elected him and branded the attorney general a “criminal.”

In December, Baharav-Miara wrote to Netanyahu that the petitions against Ben Gvir have earned a “factual and legal foundation” due to the minister’s actions.

She noted that the court had okayed Ben Gvir’s appointment in December 2022, upon the formation of the government, despite petitions that argued he was ineligible to oversee police given his history of racist statements and criminal record, including a conviction for supporting a Jewish terror group.