From the Liveblog of
Monday, November 18, 2024
Ben Gvir alleges AG is in fishing expedition against him
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir accuses Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara of engaging in a fishing expedition, searching for a legal pretext to take action against him.
Addressing reporters ahead of his far right Otzma Yehudit party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Ben Gvir claims that a whistleblower had informed him of a “completely criminal” incident in which Baharav-Miara sent one of her deputies to the Israel Police’s Lahav 433 serious crimes unit asking to “open a criminal investigation against me for the distribution of weapons.”
After being informed “that there was nothing, everything was clean,” the deputy was then allegedly reprimanded by the attorney general, who then “sent another deputy of hers” with instructions to “investigate and find something for me against minister Ben Gvir.”
Baharav-Miara’s office quickly issues a statement asserting Ben Gvir’s claim was invented.
The High Court of Justice last week adopted the position of petitioners that the National Security Ministry under Ben Gvir had issued firearms permits without authority.
Ben Gvir’s allegations, for which he did not provide proof, come only days after Baharav-Miara told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he must reevaluate Ben Gvir’s tenure, in light of the latter’s repeated and ongoing intervention into operational police matters and his politicization of police promotions.
The two have clashed repeatedly over Ben Gvir’s handling of the police, with the attorney general declaring a promotion by the far-right minister “illegal” and ordering the police commissioner to halt the dismissal of the force’s top legal adviser.
Addressing reporters shortly before Ben Gvir, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid stated that firing Baharav-Mirara would “bring the issue of the prime minister’s recusal back to the table.”
If Netanyahu fires Baharav-Mirara, it could violate the premier’s conflict of interest arrangement, drafted in 2020 by then-attorney general Avichai Mandelblit. The High Court had ordered Netanyahu to sign off on the arrangement so he could continue to serve as prime minister while on criminal trial for fraud, bribery and breach of trust.
The Times of Israel Community.