Ben Gvir says will implement protest crackdown policies unless AG responds to proposal in 24 hours

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir tells the Attorney General’s Office he is giving it 24 hours to respond to his policy proposal document on banning various forms of protest before he brings those policies into effect.

He insists that, despite the attorney general’s opposition, he is entitled to determine policy on operative police actions during protests, and accuses the office of seeking to “extort” him by threatening not to defend him against petitions in the High Court seeking his dismissal as minister.

The Attorney General’s Office told Ben Gvir today his proposed policies violated key principles restricting him from intervening over key aspects of policing, including police policy relating to freedom of expression and protest.

“Your letter reflects a threefold error: that I could be threatened and thereby made to relinquish my authority to set policy – ​​which is not possible; that I could be misled on legal matters – which is not possible; and that my intention to set policy could be thwarted through the illegal refusal of the Attorney General’s Office to participate in the proceedings – which is not possible,” Ben Gvir writes.

“Determining policy in this context is the legal authority and even the duty of the national security minister,” he adds.

Ben Gvir threatened last week that if Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara did not respond within five days to his policy proposal document, which he first submitted in June, he would put it into effect.

But the Attorney General’s Office told him today that it could only deliberate on the minister’s policy proposal once it had been adjusted to conform with a set of principles agreed upon between Ben Gvir and the attorney general in April.

That agreement was designed to ensure Ben Gvir did not interfere with police policy regarding freedom of protest and police appointments, in order to guarantee the support of the attorney general in the High Court against the petitions for his removal.

Ben Gvir says the “threat” to refuse to defend him reflected the “illegitimate politicization” of the Attorney General’s Office, and adds that “threats and extortion” would not divert him from his intended course of action.

“I grant you 24 hours to fulfill the duty of [providing] legal advice in a professional and business-like manner,” he threatens, adding that if the Attorney General’s Office does not respond by that time he will put the new policies into effect.