Knesset committee to select MK for panel that will weigh firing of attorney general

The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee will convene to chose the Knesset representative for the five-member statutory committee for hiring and firing an attorney general on April 8.

The government resolved to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara yesterday by passing a motion of no-confidence against her, although that motion itself is not part of the formal process to remove the attorney general from office.

The justice minister must first inform the statutory committee of the government’s desire to fire the attorney general. That committee currently lacks two members, an MK and a former justice minister or attorney general.

Constitution Committee chairman MK Simcha Rothman states in a letter to committee members that all MKs who are not ministers or deputy ministers are entitled to submit their candidacy for the position by April 2.

The entire process for firing Baharav-Miara is likely to take many weeks and possibly months, especially since the government has yet to find a former justice minister or attorney general willing and able to fill that position on the committee.

The final and likely inevitable decision by the government to fire her will almost certainly be challenged by petitions to the High Court of Justice, which has the power of judicial review over administrative action by the government.