Defeat of Knesset resolution on AG hints at limits of support for her ouster

A resolution to compel the Knesset to hold a special hearing in the plenum to discuss firing Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara was defeated by a single vote Wednesday evening, prompting coalition insiders to posit that such a course of action may have less support than commonly believed.

If passed, the motion, advanced by Likud MK Avichai Boaron, would have required MKs to hold a debate on the possibility of sacking Baharav-Miara, focusing the discussion on allegations that disagreements with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had led to the breakdown of their working relationship, necessitating her termination.

“I initiated this proposal not for political or personal reasons but for one and only one reason: there is no government in the world that can serve its citizens when the attorney general is in such a position that is so opposed to the government under which she serves,” Boaron said on Wednesday — accusing Baharav-Miara of having “hindered the government’s steps and placed heavy weights on its feet and handcuffs on its hands.”

A growing number of coalition lawmakers and cabinet ministers have called for Baharav-Miara’s ouster due to frustration with her refusal to defend various controversial and unprecedented measures the government seeks to advance, but which she has determined would be against the law.

If Netanyahu were to fire Baharav-Mirara, it could violate the premier’s conflict of interest arrangement, which requires him to steer clear of decisions on judicial matters that could influence his criminal trial for fraud, bribery, and breach of trust.

With the opposition voting against and several coalition members absent from the Knesset plenum during the vote, the measure fell 41-40.

Among those not present were Economy Minister Nir Barkat, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein and recently ousted Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, all members of Netanyahu’s Likud party.

According to Hebrew media reports, opposition MKs declined to bow out of the vote to offset their absence, generating coalition anger — although a spokesman for Edelstein said that he did receive an offset.

The process of giving the coalition a pass by allowing it to retain the same majority margin is a commonplace gesture, but not a requirement, in the Knesset, frequently arranged between the coalition and opposition for lawmakers who are ill or have pressing social engagements, family commitments, and so on.

“They might be upset that we weren’t willing to give them a way to avoid the vote, but any offsets in place were honored,” a senior opposition official told The Times of Israel.

“The truth is, they didn’t want to vote on it. Some backbench MKs forced the issue and the opposition, led by Yair Lapid, was prepared for it and managed to defeat it. There were people in the coalition who didn’t want any part of it,” the official claimed.

“If the motion had passed it would have created pressure, but what happened in the end is the opposite – the Knesset sent a message yesterday, that it doesn’t support firing the attorney general. It was brought for a vote by the coalition, and the Knesset said no.”

Wednesday evening’s vote comes on the heels of efforts by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi to force the cabinet to take up the issue.

On Tuesday evening, Karhi revealed a list of 13 ministers who have signed his letter demanding Baharav-Miara’s dismissal: Karhi, Miki Zohar, May Golan, Idit Silman, Amichai Chikli, David Amsalem, Haim Katz, Yitzhak Wasserlauf, Amichay Eliyahu, Orit Strock, Yitzhak Goldknopf, Meir Porush and Itamar Ben Gvir.

Like the MKs in the plenum the following day, Karhi’s show of support was insufficient to force a discussion of the issue in the cabinet.

“As for the coalition, the majority of ministers and majority of MKs are against replacing [the attorney general] but the very sizable minority that wants her gone thinks she is to blame for whatever they can’t accomplish,” a coalition source and Knesset Insider who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Times of Israel.

“In reality many times it is Bibi or Levin that is stopping them but they don’t know that or see that.”

Commenting on the motion’s failure, Likud MK Tally Gotliv, a fierce critic of the attorney general, said that it was “not at all relevant” because the only entity that can fire her is the government.

Addressing the Knesset on Wednesday evening, Justice Minister Yariv Levin called on ministers who have not yet joined the effort to fire Baharav-Miara to “come out to the public and tell the truth.”

Impeachment “is a move of last resort” but “it is impossible to work like this,” he insisted, arguing that the attorney general and government legal advisors were working “to thwart the government and ensure that it cannot advance its policy.”

Asked to comment on the matter, a senior coalition insider said that the coalition had gone into Wednesday’s vote unprepared and that, just like with the recent failure of the so-called Daycare Bill, there were “just enough people in the coalition to oppose it to see that it wouldn’t pass.”

“It’s not the time to create political destabilization, nor to create more rifts within the general public,” the source stated, arguing that the government could have fired Baharav-Miara “at any point by themselves” but that they have failed to do so.

Another source with knowledge of the matter, who also asked to speak off the record, argued that if the matter was brought to a vote in the cabinet “it would probably pass.”

“But in order for that to happen, they were told by the cabinet secretary to collect different opinions as to why she’s not doing her job as expected. And nobody’s submitted anything yet,” the source said, arguing that if the government had wanted to fire Baharav-Miara “they could’ve done it a year ago, but they didn’t.”

“I think it’s a matter of will, and I think also the coalition is a bit scared to make that kind of a move like they made with Gallant,” the source stated.

“It’s always convenient to have punching bag.”