Effort to remove AG will start in next few weeks, claims communications minister
Shlomo Karhi says ‘an actual impeachment process will begin’ in 2-3 weeks, but spokesman for Justice Minister Levin says he doesn’t know ‘anything new about the matter’
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
The process of removing Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara from her position will begin in the coming weeks, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi claimed Monday, amid an extended campaign demanding her termination.
“I said that in the next two to three weeks, an actual impeachment process will begin, and that is exactly what will happen,” Karhi told a conference organized by the right-wing B’Sheva newspaper.
“The justice minister [Yariv Levin] prepared a hearing with hundreds of examples of illegal activity – things that it would be unthinkable for an attorney general to do. There is no scenario in which she remains in her position. The law states that the attorney general’s role is to advise and assist the government in advancing policy [and] not to block it from within.”
Karhi, who has been one of the most vocal supporters of the move to fire Baharav-Miara, previously circulated a letter within the cabinet demanding the government take action on the issue.
The regulations for hiring and firing an attorney general, the government’s chief lawyer and legal adviser, are laid out in a government resolution passed in 2000.
That resolution established a five-member public committee that is responsible for appointing the attorney general and plays a substantial role in the dismissal process should the government go down that path.
There are only four reasons for which the government can seek to replace the attorney general, three of which relate to the individual’s fitness and ability to carry out the job. The other consideration is if there are “substantive and ongoing differences of opinion between the government and the attorney general which create a situation in which prevents effective cooperation.”
To do so, the justice minister first needs to deliver the government’s objections to the functioning of the attorney general to the public committee in writing.
Asked if Levin intended to kickstart the process within the timeframe claimed by Karhi, a spokesman for the minister told The Times of Israel that he did “not know anything new about the matter.”
Baharav-Miara has opposed the government’s positions and those of cabinet ministers on many occasions and has issued instructions that have caused the leadership innumerable headaches, sparking repeated calls by cabinet members to fire her.
Critics include Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is reported to have ordered that a “solution” be found for Baharav-Miara’s “adversarial” relationship with his government.
Baharav-Miara last month ordered an investigation into Netanyahu’s wife Sara on suspicion of witness harassment and obstruction of justice.
Asked about Karhi’s statement during a press conference in the Knesset ahead of his Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told reporters that while the matter is the responsibility of Levin, he believes that the attorney general “should be replaced.”
Levin “is responsible for that, that is his role and responsibility and we will back him up,” Smotrich stated.
According to the Kan public broadcaster, coalition leaders agreed in principle in December on how to move forward with Baharav-Miara’s firing.
At the time, 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 then-national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir had issued an ultimatum threatening to quit the government if Baharav-Miara was not fired.
Ben Gvir, who later left the coalition over the current ceasefire deal with Hamas, in November accused Baharav-Miara of engaging in a fishing expedition against him.
His comments came after the attorney general told the prime minister that he must reevaluate Ben Gvir’s tenure in light of the latter’s repeated and ongoing intervention into operational police matters and his politicization of police promotions.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who strongly backed her candidacy as justice minister under the previous government, said last month that he prefers to split Baharav-Miara’s position into two roles, rather than fire her.
Having a chief government legal adviser and a chief prosecutor embodied in the same person creates problems of concentration of power and comes with “a built-in conflict of interest,” he said at the time.
“It is better to split than to dismiss. I always prefer to repair rather than break.”
Opposition politicians have warned that firing Baharav-Miara would pave the way to the revival of Levin’s controversial judicial overhaul program. Levin and Sa’ar last month unveiled a softened version of the overhaul, one part of which Sa’ar recently said could be passed within a month.
Bypassing Bitan
Aside from stating that Baharav-Miara would get the boot, Karhi on Monday also promised to establish a new “media committee” in order to bypass the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee, whose chairman, MK David Bitan (Likud), has promised to block a controversial bill by Karhi aimed at shutting down the Kan public broadcaster.
“Unfortunately, there are those within the coalition who are delaying the reforms,” he said, accusing Bitan of “going with the opposition.”
However, “I do not intend to stop,” Karhi pledged, predicting that “the reforms will be completed by the end of July.”
During a committee meeting to discuss the controversial legislation last month, Bitan said that he “can’t advance this bill for a simple reason — public broadcasting is necessary.”
“There has always been public broadcasting in Israel, so in terms of canceling the public broadcaster, I’m not in favor,” Bitan said at the time.
“Unfortunately, there are those in Likud who are causing damage to the party and its members for the sake of politics, and I will not allow this.”
Bitan’s opposition means that the bill is highly unlikely to come to a vote in the committee, preventing it from advancing to the Knesset plenum for the three readings necessary for it to pass into law.
Times of Israel staff and Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.