From the Liveblog of
Sunday, March 23, 2025
Elected officials must obey court, Herzog says in comments aimed at lawmakers
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
President Isaac Herzog says that the law cannot be violated, nor can court orders be ignored, in a critique of the government’s attempts to oust Shin Bet head Ronen Bar and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.
Speaking at the Applebaum Prize ceremony for paramedics in the IDF reserves and security forces, he says elected officials should follow three rules: “There is not and will not be a civil war, and it is forbidden to talk about a civil war. Two — there is not and will not be a violation of the law, and three — there is not and will not be a violation of a court order.”
Failing to follow those three guidelines, argues Herzog, will lead the Israeli “dismantling our country.”
“What level of madness can we reach as a nation?” Herzog asks.
Senior ministers have promised to defy the High Court of Justice if it blocks the cabinet’s unanimous decision on Thursday night to fire Bar. Baharav-Miara, who is also facing dismissal by the cabinet, has warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he could not fire Bar before her office reviewed his motives for doing so, amid a Shin Bet investigation into the premier’s aides and their alleged ties to Qatar.
Herzog says that he believes most Israelis reject the “evil spirit” of partisanship gripping the country.
“They believe in something else, that they are not willing to accept the division and the factions and the quarrels and the shouting and the riots, but want the people of Israel to continue together because it is threatened by truly terrible enemies from the outside,” says the president.
