Attorney general to order Ben Gvir be fired unless he stops meddling in police – report
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara is set to tell Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he must fire National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for repeatedly violating the law while in office unless he changes his mode of conduct, Channel 13 reports.
Ben Gvir calls for Baharav-Miara’s firing in reaction to the report.
Baharav-Miara is formulating the state’s response to petitions to the High Court of Justice demanding that Ben Gvir be removed from office for repeatedly intervening in the functioning of the police in a manner in which the court has forbidden.
In March 2023, the High Court ordered Ben Gvir to halt operational orders to the police on managing anti-government protests, and issued an injunction against such orders in January 2024.
According to the Channel 13 report, the attorney general and the State Attorney’s Office believe that Ben Gvir has violated the law through his actions as the minister entrusted with responsibility for the police.
But Baharav-Miara is seeking to “exhaust” all avenues for addressing the problem before filing her response to the court, including what would appear to be a final warning to Netanyahu that Ben Gvir must change his behavior if he is to avoid a court ruling ordering the ultranationalist national security minister be fired, a move which could put Netanyahu’s ruling coalition in danger.
Ben Gvir says in response that the attorney general and Channel 13 news were “working together to topple right-wing rule,” and said he was again calling on Netanyahu “to fire the attorney general who is working against the government.”
The report comes as Channel 13 News is set to publish an investigative report detailing Ben Gvir’s alleged violations of the law in his activities as minister.