AG’s office says proposed change to process by which she could be removed is unlawful

The Attorney General’s Office states that a proposal by the government to change the way the attorney general can be removed from office would politicize the position, make the post dependent on the government’s goodwill and contravene previous High Court rulings, and would therefore be unlawful.

The cabinet is set to debate and possibly authorize a government resolution today that would grant a five-member ministerial committee the ability to fire the attorney general without consulting the statutory committee tasked with hiring and firing for the position.

Although Justice Minister Yariv Levin set in motion the process to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara in March, he has been unable to advance the process due to an inability to staff that statutory committee.

The proposed government resolution “is an extreme expression of a series of actions promoted recently, the purpose of which is to remove limits and oversight over governmental power… while politicizing the public service and harming the neutrality of [law enforcement] guardians,” writes Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon.

“Under the guise of a procedural amendment, a tectonic shift is being proposed in the role and status of the attorney general — a role that, since the founding of the state, has been shaped as a nonpartisan, independent and apolitical position, aimed at implementing government policy while being obligated to uphold the rule of law and the public interest,” he says.

“The proposal, if accepted, would pave the way for turning the attorney general into someone bound by the political needs of the government, even if those needs do not align with the law or the rule of law… It would be a mortal blow to the independent status of the attorney general, who serves as a guardian [of democracy] of the first degree, and a serious violation of their professionalism, independence, and impartiality. These moves seriously harm public interest, ethical integrity, and the rule of law,” he adds.