From the Liveblog of
Saturday, March 22, 2025
Ex-PM Ehud Barak urges AG to order that Netanyahu recuse himself from premiership
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"
Speaking with Israel’s Channel 12 news, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak calls on Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to declare that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must recuse himself.
“The attorney general should declare Netanyahu incapacitated,” Barak states. A bill shielding Netanyahu from being ordered to recuse himself from office was passed by the Knesset in 2023, but its implementation was delayed by the High Court of Justice until the beginning of the next Knesset term after elections are held.
Barak’s remarks come a day before Netanyahu’s cabinet is slated to take up a motion of “no confidence” in Baharav-Miara, whom Justice Minister Yariv Levin has accused of politicizing her office and repeatedly thwarting the will of the government amid its push to radically overhaul the judicial system.
In a tweet ahead of tomorrow’s vote, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi claims that Netanyahu “carries the burden of the Jewish and democratic state with determination, responsibility, and with a clear mandate from the public — while the attorney general, with the backing of the High Court of Justice, wants to run over the people and their elected officials.”
“Tomorrow, with God’s help, we will begin to fix this,” he tweets alongside a graphic of Baharav-Miara crushing Netanyahu and Israel under her shoes.
The Times of Israel Community.