High Court cuts hearing on AG’s dismissal short after government fails to send lawyer

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit states during an extremely short hearing that there is “no point” holding oral arguments on the government’s decision to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara “in front of an open goal,” a reference to the fact that the government declined to send a lawyer to represent it at the hearing.

The hearing was intended to focus on the core arguments laid out in petitions filed against the government’s dismissal of Baharav-Miara in August, which argued that the manner of the dismissal was fundamentally flawed and illegitimate. The government had created a new committee staffed only with cabinet ministers to replace a public, professional committee, which had previously been tasked with recommending whether or not an attorney general should be fired.

Amit notes that Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli submitted a final written response to the petitions in mid-November, asking for the case to be dismissed, but says that since the government has decided not to send a legal representative to the court, the seven-justice panel will write its ruling based on written material submitted to it, the without further oral argument.

The Supreme Court president says this decision was made unanimously by all seven members of the judicial panel.