Ben Gvir seeks backing for bill that would allow any government, in its 1st months, to fire AG, IDF chief, other top officials

By Sam Sokol 13 July 2025, 11:20 am

2 Edit

Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. 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 leads an Otzma Yehudit faction meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on June 30, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir calls on members of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation to back a bill allowing the government to terminate the tenure of the most senior security officials and public officers in the country within its first 100 days in office.

The high-level panel is set to vote this afternoon on the legislation, submitted to the Knesset by MK Zvika Fogel of Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party.

“A necessary step to restore governance to the government elected by the public,” writes Ben Gvir on X.

“The government was elected to implement the policy for which it received the public’s trust—not to repeatedly encounter obstacles from senior bureaucracy appointed by previous governments,” argues Ben Gvir. “I call on my fellow ministers: Vote in favor. Allow the elected government to govern—without shackles.”

If approved, the bill would mark the latest in a string of moves by the coalition to concentrate power in the hands of the government at the expense of other institutions and erode the judiciary and other checks and balances.

Under the terms of the bill, a government in the first 100 days from taking office could terminate the tenure of the attorney general, IDF chief of staff, head of the Shin Bet, head of the Mossad, police commissioner, head of the Israel Prison Service, Civil Service commissioner, and head of the budget department in the Finance Ministry.

Discussion over the bill comes as the government is working to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, and to appoint David Zini as the new chief of the Shin Bet security service.