Levin, Chikli: Gov’t won’t take part in ‘absurd performance’ of High Court case on AG dismissal

Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chiki release a statement aiming to justify their decision not to send a lawyer to represent the government in a High Court hearing over the decision to fire the attorney general, saying “the government will not participate in this absurd performance.”

The two ministers are responding to the High Court’s decision not to hold oral arguments over the petitions demanding the court annul the dismissal of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara earlier this year, owing to the fact that the government decided not to send a lawyer to argue its position.

“There is no legal process in the world in which a government official who has been removed from office subjugates the legal advisory service and the State Attorney’s Office to represent herself instead of the government, and to prevent her own dismissal,” say the two ministers.

Levin and Chikli also protest the fact that since the High Court froze the dismissal of Baharav-Miara pending a final decision, she has remained in office and issued a legal submission on behalf of the state asserting that her dismissal was unlawful.

“The government cannot participate in a process whose outcome is predetermined – making the government the only entity in the State of Israel upon whom the decision as to who will be its legal adviser is forced on it,” say Levin and Chikli.