High Court postpones hearing for petitions demanding Ben Gvir be fired for abuse of power

The High Court of Justice reluctantly agrees to postpone a hearing for petitions demanding the removal from office of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who is a respondent to petitions asking the court to order the premier to fire Ben Gvir for unlawful abuse of his powers over the police – told the court yesterday he could not properly brief his lawyer on the issue due to the current wartime conditions, and said that a hearing should not be heard at all during a time of war.

A hearing had been scheduled for next Tuesday, and Netanyahu requested that it be postponed to an unspecified date in the future, “subject to the security situation.”

The High Court partially agrees to the request, postponing the hearing but setting a new date to hear the petitions for April 15. Netanyahu’s lawyer may submit the final response to the petitions by April 14.

The change in date means that one of the nine justices on the panel, Gila Canfy Steinitz, will not be able to be present at the hearing.

She will be replaced instead by Justice David Mintz. Steinitz is a moderate conservative, whereas Mintz is perhaps the strongest advocate for judicial restraint on the bench. This may well heighten the likelihood of the petition being dismissed, on the grounds that the court cannot intervene in the prime minister’s discretion to hire and fire cabinet ministers.

The petition asks that the court order Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fire Ben Gvir due to what the petitioners allege is the far-right minister’s unlawful influence over police policy on the policing of protests, police appointments, and investigations.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara opposed the request to delay the hearing, due to what she said was the “severe and systematic harm” Ben Gvir is doing to police work even amid the current war.

“In light of the severe and systematic harm to police work that is currently ongoing, including in the most sensitive areas of enforcement, investigations and appointments, it is essential to have judicial review as soon as possible,” the attorney general’s representative told the High Court on Monday.