Attorney general says Ben Gvir ‘wrongfully and illegally intervened in police work’

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara tells the High Court that National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir “wrongfully and illegally intervened in police work” related to the right to protest, during the war in Gaza.

As minister in charge of police, Ben Gvir can set policy, but is not permitted to instruct police on specific enforcement.

In November, several organizations petitioned the High Court to prevent the minister from instructing the police on how to react to certain protests, after he spoke out against a rally organized by the Arab-majority Hadash party calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, and made clear his belief that it should not be allowed to take place.

This followed numerous instances throughout the protests against the government’s judicial overhaul legislation efforts in which Ben Gvir was accused of closely involving himself with policing of the demonstrations, pressuring police to take a far tougher hand with demonstrators seen to be disrupting public order.

Baharav-Miara says a review of the case at hand indicates Ben Gvir “crossed a line” into “forbidden intervention” in police discretion, and particularly criticizes such intervention “in the sensitive issue of demonstrations and the right to protest.”