Lapid: Levin has no authority to bypass AG, he’s a hate-filled minister in a minority government

By Sam Sokol 4 November 2025, 12:45 pm

Edit

Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. 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"

Opposition leader and Yesh Atid party chair Yair Lapid leads a faction meeting at the Knesset on October 20, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid slams Justice Minister Yariv Levin over his intention to appoint State Ombudsman for Judges Asher Kula to head the investigation into former military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, in place of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, whom Levin has claimed is legally barred from involvement in the case.

Lapid objects to Levin’s claim that sidelining the attorney general in this case “is the best possible solution” and that Kula’s “appointment will enjoy broad public trust.”

“Yariv Levin is proposing to appoint an investigator through a channel that bypasses the attorney general, claiming this would ‘gain broad public trust,'” Lapid says in a statement.

“No, it wouldn’t… and he doesn’t have the authority to take this step. He’s a hate-filled minister in a minority government that’s doing everything it can to destroy the system, and we have no trust whatsoever in his actions.”