From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, December 2, 2025
AG to PM: Ben Gvir’s ‘repeated violations’ of police independence validate demands he be removed from office
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is repeatedly violating the principle of police independence by unlawfully intervening in police investigations and appointments, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara tells Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, something which she says has provided a factual and legal foundation to petitions calling for his dismissal from office.
Writing to the prime minister, Baharav-Miara details a series of incidents in which the far-right minister has publicly spoken out about ongoing police investigations, intervened over police promotions on political grounds, and sought to determine operative police policies in violation of High Court rulings.
“These are substantive violations repeated time and again in numerous contexts, which turn the law establishing the principle of police independence… into a dead letter,” writes the attorney general.
She says that an attempt to come to a mutually agreed framework with Ben Gvir for ensuring police independence has failed, and that it is now impossible to defend police independence in the face of Ben Gvir’s “repeated, illegitimate interventions, which harm the rule of law and human rights.”
The attorney general adds that given this inability to halt the minister’s “political intervention in police work,” the claims of petitioners asking the court to order Ben Gvir’s dismissal from office have become “anchored in a legal and factual foundation.”
She says, therefore, that Netanyahu needs to address the issues she raises in her letter before she files a final response to the petitions on behalf of the state to the High Court.
Ben Gvir, in response, calls Baharav-Miara “a criminal,” accusing her of obstructing justice in the investigation into the Sde Teiman video leak affair, and of repeatedly trying to thwart the will of the government.
“I will not rest or be silent until her actions are investigated — Israel will not be a mafia state,” says Ben Gvir.
The Times of Israel Community.