After High Court ruling, justice minister says ‘only the government’ will decide who AG is

Justice Minister Yariv Levin denounces the High Court’s decision recommending that the government cancel its dismissal of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, and strongly implies that the government will not comply with a final ruling annulling its decision to fire her.

Levin describes the decision as a “theater of the absurd,” and insists that the government was justified in firing her since there had been a breakdown of cooperation between the two sides.

“You can’t force the government, especially when we’re in the midst of a war, to work with her even for one more day. The government and only the government will determine who its attorney general will be,” says Levin.

“But no judicial order can force cooperation that did not exist with Attorney Baharav-Miara, and there will not be any,” he adds.

Levin has refused to refer to Baharav-Miara as the attorney general since the government formally fired her last month, despite the High Court’s order freezing her dismissal until a final ruling and instructing the government not to change its working relationship with her.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, a sharp opponent of Baharav-Miara, claims that the court’s injuction is “illegal and therefore void.” He vows that the government will ignore the order and work quickly to appoint a new permanent attorney general.