Former AG says government’s plan to oust his successor could spell end of democracy

Former attorney general Avichai Mandelblit warned Monday that the government’s plan to oust his successor, Gali Baharav-Miara, could result in the “complete destruction” of Israeli democracy.

“This is a recipe for complete destruction of democracy and the rule of law in the State of Israel,” he told Kan public radio when asked about the possibility that Baharav-Miara’s potential replacement would scrap Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing years-long corruption trial.

Mandelblit also reiterated his support for the prosecution striking a plea deal with Netanyahu, but said “the accused needs to take responsibility for his actions… It needs to be a serious plea deal; I don’t know if there’s real potential for that now.” The premier has derided as a witch hunt the charges that he accepted lavish gifts and solicited positive news coverage in exchange for political favors.

Mandelblit expressed support for Baharav-Miara’s expected decision to skip a dismissal hearing she was summoned to Monday.

The case is set to be heard by a five-member ministerial committee that the government created in June after having failed to achieve Baharav-Miara’s dismissal through an existing mechanism. The attorney general has rejected the new dismissal mechanism as illegal.

Mandelblit said it was “quite clear” that the hearing was just for the record and that the panel had already made up its mind.

“Like she said, it’s a hearing that, in her view, is illegal,” said Mandelblit. “So if it’s an illegal hearing, and if, as is quite clear, it’s a hearing in theory but not in practice… then why show up? Why take part in this circus, where the result is predetermined?”

The hearing was set to take place after Justice Noam Sohlberg on Sunday dismissed a petition by anti-government activists and civil society groups to prevent the ministerial panel from convening. Baharav-Miara expressed support for the petition in a court filing last week.

Sohlberg rejected the petition on procedural grounds, saying the ministerial committee still had not made a recommendation on Baharav-Miara’s ouster, so there was nothing to adjudicate yet. That means petitioners can refile their objections to the court should the committee indeed recommend Baharav-Miara’s removal.

Mandelblit told Kan he was surprised by Sohlberg’s decision. “I thought there was a good chance he would decide otherwise,” he said. “I think it’s an incorrect decision.”

However, he said, “a High Court ruling must always be honored, whether you like it or not. It’s one of the things we are fighting for.”

“Unfortunately, [there are] increasingly large segments of the government that say you don’t have to honor a [High Court] decision,” said Mandelblit. “That… will tear down the country.”

Asked if the government’s efforts to override the High Court spelled imminent doom for Israeli democracy, he said yes.

“The answer is yes, and it didn’t start today — [these] things were said already in January 2023,” when the government introduced a plan to radically constrain the judiciary, sparking mass protests.

He said the attorney general and High Court, as well as the free press, were the guardrails for democracy in Israel, which lacks a constitution and has only one legislative chamber.

According to Mandelblit, those guardrails “don’t sit right with the government, and they prevent it… from unrestrained, unchecked rule,” and the government wants to scrap those guardrails and “appoint people loyal to it.”

“So instead of loyalty to the State of Israel, there will now be personal loyalty to ministers and the government,” he said. “There will be just one branch [of government], and when there’s just one branch, it’s not a democracy.”

Mandelblit was appointed attorney general in 2016, and was succeeded in 2022 by Baharav-Miara, who was appointed by a short-lived government of parties opposed to Netanyahu.

Mandelblit was seen before his appointment as a close associate of Netanyahu’s, but their relationship soured when Mandelblit oversaw Netanyahu’s indictment. In 2023, when Netanyahu’s newly formed government introduced its judicial overhaul plan, Mandelblit emerged as one of its harshest critics.

Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.