Lapid says Netanyahu orchestrating attorney general’s ouster to revive overhaul
‘We will not participate in pretending that Israel is a democracy if it ceases to be so,’ opposition leader declares, pledging to ‘not rule out any step or action’
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"
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of seeking to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on Monday, arguing that such a move would constitute a return to the government’s efforts to hobble the judiciary.
Addressing reporters ahead of his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Lapid warned that “the opposition will not allow this to pass in silence or with polite protests from the sidelines” and “will not rule out any step or action, from mass strikes and an escalation of the struggle in the streets to a collective resignation from the Knesset.”
“We will not participate in pretending that Israel is a democracy if it ceases to be so,” he declared, accusing the government of sending up “trial balloons” relating to its alleged intentions.
Lapid noted a report that Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli had sent Netanyahu a letter demanding Baharav-Miara’s firing, saying it was a trial balloon that had been “coordinated in advance… to ‘plant’ the idea.”
During Sunday’s cabinet meeting, several ministers attacked the Attorney General’s Office, according to Hebrew media reports, with Chikli accusing Baharav-Miara of supporting “institutionalized political violence.”
During the meeting, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon, who was at the meeting, that his legal opinion was “not at the level of a first-year law student,” reports said, and Regional Cooperation Minister David Amsalem called Limon “the most dangerous man in the country” and pushed for his and Baharav-Miara’s firing.
Lapid claimed Netanyahu encouraged the pile-on alleging the existence of “an orchestrated campaign coming directly from the Prime Minister’s Office.”
Netanyahu’s government has frequently clashed with Baharav-Miara, including in recent weeks, after the attorney general labeled Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s move to avoid convening a vote to choose a Supreme Court president as “extremely unreasonable,” and said the government is obligated to draft Haredi men to the military.
According to Lapid, if Baharav-Miara were dismissed, it would allow Justice Minister Yariv Levin to choose the next attorney general, allowing the government to resume its pursuit of a highly contentious judicial overhaul plan.
Limiting the power of the courts
New Hope party chairman Gideon Sa’ar, who was a member of Netanyahu’s cabinet until March, also criticized the government’s “politicization” of the justice system over a government-backed bill that would dramatically change how the state ombudsman for judges is chosen.
The ombudsman provides oversight and investigates complaints against judges and has until now been chosen by the Judicial Appointments Committee — a body that includes representatives of the High Court, Knesset and Bar Association — following a joint nomination by the justice minister and the president of the High Court.
Under the new legislation, the ombudsman would be appointed by the president following a vote in the Knesset, with representatives of the judicial system cut out of both the nomination and selection process. Instead, a group of 10 lawmakers or the justice minister would be empowered to nominate candidates.
During a press conference ahead of his party’s faction meeting, Sa’ar speculated that by controlling the choice of the ombudsman, the Knesset would gain leverage over judges who would be compelled to try and get on lawmakers’ good sides.
Yair Golan, head of the recently constituted Democrats party, made up of a Labor-Meretz merger finalized a day earlier, said the governing coalition was still pursuing efforts to undermine the High Court’s power of judicial review and related initiatives which were part of the government’s largely paused judicial overhaul plan.
Despite the events of October 7, Netanyahu’s coalition “continues its devious actions and does not abandon the dream of a regime coup,” he told reporters, accusing it of pursuing moves against the Attorney General’s Office.
Welcoming left-wing Meretz representatives to their first joint weekly faction meeting in the Knesset following Sunday’s merger, Golan said the parties would represent the breadth of the “liberal democratic public.”
“We are a fighting and determined opposition — only such an opposition can be a leadership alternative,” he said. “We, the Democrats, will be the political framework that will ensure a change of government.”
Asked how he intended to revive the left as a viable alternative given the rightward shift in Israeli politics in recent years, Golan told The Times of Israel that the right-left paradigm was irrelevant to the current political reality.
“Today, there is a persistent struggle between the democratic-liberal public in Israel — which sees the State of Israel as the national home of the Jewish people and as equal, free and democratic — and a public that perceives the state as messianic-theocratic or as a state that is a kleptocracy, a state of thieves and robbers whose entire role is to drain the public purse,” he claimed.
Turning to Saturday night’s incident in Tel Aviv in which Labor MK Naama Lazimi was shoved and grabbed by police officers, despite the parliamentary immunity granted to her as a Knesset member, Golan had a warning for law enforcement.
“To the men and women of the Israel Police, I want to say clearly: your job is to protect the citizens and their democratic rights. Beware of becoming a violent arm of a criminal minister and an illegitimate government. You too are part of the cornerstone of Israeli democracy. When we return to power we will make sure that Israel has a responsible, professional and dignified police.”
A call for investigation
Both Sa’ar and Golan also criticized the government for releasing Shifa Hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya back into Gaza, a call echoed by hard-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during his own Religious Zionism party’s faction meeting.
“I appealed to the prime minister demanding an immediate investigation into this failure and demanding answers from all those responsible, without exception, in order to ensure that nothing of this kind happens again,” Smotrich told reporters.
Smotrich said he would request that the investigation’s conclusions be presented to the cabinet this week, “including taking steps against those responsible for the failure.”
He said claims that the move had been authorized due to a shortage of space in jails “still does not justify this release” and sends “a message of weakness to our enemies.”
Michael Horovitz contributed to this report.
