AG to PM: Cabinet has made important decisions without proper authority

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara tells Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the government is acting unlawfully when adopting important cabinet decisions, and says he need to put things “back on track.”

The attorney general, who has repeatedly clashed with Netanyahu and his government, alleges the texts of such decisions are shared with the relevant authorities either just before or during the cabinet meeting in which they are being voted on, and sometimes are backed by legal briefs issued by unauthorized officials, including the cabinet secretary and even private attorneys.

Baharav-Miara points to an incident in which she says Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs penned a letter “in which he gave a legal opinion with far-reaching consequences in the realm of security” that she insists was issued “without authority,” but declines to go into further detail.

“For some time now, significant government decisions have been made in a flawed process,” she tells Netanyahu in a letter also sent to the press.

“This [includes decisions prepared] without professional work; sending them for comment to the relevant authorities close to [cabinet] meetings or during them, in a way that does not allow professional officials, and ministers, to do their job and fulfill their obligations; and even using legal briefs of people unauthorized [to issue them], private parties, or the cabinet secretary.”

Baharav-Miara tells Netanyahu that such behavior violates governmental procedures and that the cabinet secretariat “must act in a professional and appropriate manner” to ensure that the government is acting in a legitimate fashion.