Likud MK threatens deputy attorney general in heated Knesset panel meeting

Likud MK Moshe Saada threatened Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara’s deputy during a heated Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee discussion Tuesday, as lawmakers debated a coalition bill to split up the attorney general’s role, amid ongoing attempts to fire Baharav-Miara and curb her authority.

Saada, addressing Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon directly, said, “You sit in front of me with a smile, and in your place once sat the deputy military advocate general and the military advocate general — also with a smile — and you know where they are today. You know exactly where they are today, and you, Gil, will end up in the same place.”

Former military advocate general Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned in October after admitting that she had authorized the leak of a surveillance video showing alleged abuse of a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility.

Tomer-Yerushalmi was arrested last month in connection with the leak and the subsequent investigation, and her deputy, Brig. Gen. Gal Asael, was placed under house arrest and suspended from the Military Advocate General’s Corps.

Tomer-Yerushalmi was released this week from the hospital, where she spent more than a month after an apparent suicide attempt via overdose.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin has been locked in a legal battle with Baharav-Miara over his attempts to sideline her from the investigation into the Sde Teiman affair, accusing her, without offering evidence, of participating in the cover-up of the leak in the initial investigation. Baharav-Miara has condemned Levin’s efforts to bar her from the investigation, saying he has no authority to take such action.

Limon, who appeared before the committee to represent the attorney general, responded to Saada, “You will not threaten me.”

The Likud lawmaker denied that he was threatening Limon, and continued to accuse the deputy attorney general of obstructing the investigation, saying, “You will not disrupt or taint an investigation. I won’t bow my head to you. I’ll tell you the truth, and when I speak, Gil, you’ll shut up.”

The comments were met with outrage from opposition MKs, including Labor MK Naama Lazimi, who, turning to committee chairman Simcha Rotham, said, “‘What is this, a threat?… This is a mafia threat — he’s threatening him. Why is he saying this to him?”

Rothman yelled at Lazimi to be silent before ejecting her from the discussion.

Saada, a former deputy head of the Department of Internal Police Investigations in the Justice Ministry and a fierce critic of the attorney general, has argued that it is imperative to split the role. He has accused the law enforcement system of being a “criminal organization” shepherded by Baharav-Miara.

The bill in question would split the current role of attorney general into three separate positions controlled by the government: a legal adviser to the government whose opinions would no longer be binding; a chief of the state prosecutor; and a solicitor general who would represent the government in court.

Baharav-Miara strongly opposes the effort to split her role, calling it a threat to “the foundations of the government, the rule of law, the fight against corruption and human rights.”

The exchange followed a heated back-and-forth in which Rothman pressed Limon to clarify whether Baharav-Miara had been informed by then-justice minister Gideon Sa’ar, during the short-lived government led by Naftali Bennett and now-opposition leader Yair Lapid, that he intended to split the attorney general’s role before her appointment.

Limon replied that no such model had been presented to her and that he had no additional information on the matter.

Sa’ar, who appointed Baharav-Miara in 2022, claimed last month during a committee meeting that he had planned to split the role and had informed her of his intentions at the time, adding that he did not recall her objecting.

Lapid’s Yesh Atid party, which Sa’ar said had signed a coalition agreement with him stipulating that the role would be split, rejected his claims and accused him of lying.

Sa’ar’s New Hope party, which holds four out of 120 seats in the Knesset, rejoined the government in September 2024, and in March 2025, Sa’ar signed an agreement to merge the faction into Likud.