AG tells government it must get advisory panel’s approval before it can discuss firing Shin Bet chief

The Attorney General’s Office tells the government that it is legally obligated to obtain a recommendation from the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee before holding a cabinet discussion on firing Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.

This determination is legally binding and any other opinion is invalid, Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon tells Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs in a letter on the issue.

Writing on behalf of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, Limon points out that a cabinet resolution from 2016 requires the government to obtain the recommendation of the advisory committee before firing any of the seven senior civil service positions that the committee evaluated for appointing them in the first place.

Included in those seven positions is the head of the Shin Bet.

“In cabinet resolution 1148, the government anchored an arrangement according to which its authority to end the tenure of the seven office holders whose appointment is evaluated by the advisory committee will be subject to a process by which the recommendation of the committee will be brought before the cabinet before a decision on the matter is made and after an orderly process for examining the intention to end [that office] holder’s tenure is held,” Limon tells Fuchs.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his intention to dismiss Bar on Sunday after months of growing disagreements between the two men.

The announcement sparked furious denunciations from opposition parties who claimed Netanyahu was moving against the Shin Bet chief due to an investigation being conducted by the agency together with the police into allegedly unlawful ties between the prime minister’s close aides and Qatar.

Netanyahu has claimed the investigation, which the attorney general ordered be opened last month, was politically motivated, and alleged her legal objections to firing Bar were an abuse of her authority.