AG opposes extending PMO acting director’s tenure because she’s caught up in a graft probe

Baharav-Miara tells High Court of ‘considerable difficulty’ retaining Netanyahu pick Drorit Steinmetz, since she’s a suspect in corruption investigation involving Minister May Golan

By Jeremy Sharon

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31 May 2026, 6:51 pm

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Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter

Then-PMO director Yossi Shelley (L) with Drorit Steinmetz in the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on February 22, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara told the High Court of Justice on Sunday that the acting director of the Prime Minister’s Office, Drorit Steinmetz, should not continue in the position since she is a suspect in a corruption investigation involving Social Equality Minister May Golan.

The attorney general gave her position in a response to the High Court of Justice following petitions against Steinmetz continuing in the role as requested by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Baharav-Miara wrote that there is “considerable difficulty in granting the consent of the attorney general to extend the assignment of the position,” Haaretz reported.

Steinmetz is a longtime employee of the Prime Minister’s Office who is considered close to the Netanyahu family, particularly the premier’s wife, Sara.

She has been serving as acting director since February 2025, but the Movement for Integrity in Government petitioned the High Court to oust her owing to an investigation into her on suspicion of theft by a public servant, false registration in corporate documents, fraudulent receipt of a benefit under aggravated circumstances, and fraud and breach of trust.

The suspicions against Steinmetz stem from her alleged role in a scandal involving Golan, specifically securing a job for Golan’s media adviser Harel Hershkowitz, the grandson of former civil service commissioner Daniel Hershkowitz, who was replaced earlier this month by Doron Cohen.

Netanyahu wrote to Baharav-Miara to request her approval to extend Steinmetz’s tenure as acting director, but the attorney general said there is “considerable difficulty” in doing so because of the criminal investigation, and said the prime minister should make a permanent appointment to the position instead.

Social Equality Minister May Golan at a court hearing at the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court on September 15, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Golan is suspected of fraud, misusing public funds for private purposes, creating fictitious positions in the Social Equality Ministry, and concealing sources of funding, and she is likely to be questioned on suspicion of accepting a bribe.

The minister, a member of the ruling Likud party, denies all wrongdoing. She has refused to submit to police questioning and reportedly whisked her mother away in the middle of a questioning in September 2025.

Multiple coalition lawmakers and ministers are currently under criminal investigation.