Government tells High Court it will return to old method of firing attorney general, with certain conditions

The government tells the High Court of Justice that it is willing to return to the original method used to fire an attorney general, after the court recommended that it rescind the method used to try and oust Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara earlier this year.

Earlier this month, the court decided unanimously to recommend to the government that it cancel its decision to fire Baharav-Miara, and gave it until September 14 to inform the court whether it accepted the recommendation to abolish the new method for firing the attorney general that the government established in June, and by extension to cancel the dismissal of Baharav-Miara.

The government’s response, submitted by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, comes just minutes before the 11:59 p.m. deadline.

The government voted unanimously on August 4 to fire Baharav-Miara, but only after it failed to complete the dismissal process established in the year 2000, which determined that a public, professional committee be charged with recommending the appointment and dismissal of attorneys general.

In order to try and push through her dismissal, the government had established a ministerial committee to make the recommendation instead, and adopted that committee’s recommendation when it fired her in August.

In its September 1 decision, issued in response to petitions against Baharav-Miara’s ouster, the court recommended to the government that it return to the original method for firing the attorney general by consulting the public, professional committee established in 2000.

The government now informs the court that it will hold a hearing on the possibility of returning to the previously-approved method, if the decision can be made within the next two weeks, and with guarantees that the committee will not include a former justice minister or attorney general, given that it was unable to find any who were willing to take part in the panel previously.