Levin says ‘unacceptable’ for High Court to strike down AG firing

During the course of the cabinet debate on firing Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, Justice Minister Yariv Levin said it is “unacceptable” for the High Court of Justice to try “to force a political attorney general on the government,” according to his office.

The comments are aimed against petitions asking the High Court to invalidate the dismissal process used by the government to remove Baharav-Miara from office, and the High Court’s recent ruling that her dismissal will not go into effect until =it issues a ruling on the case.

Regardless of that future High Court ruling, the government will likely now blackball the attorney general and not invite her to key government forums, muting her power, The Times of Israel has learned.

Levin insisted in the cabinet meeting that the government had full authority to fire her regardless of the makeup of the advisory committee the government consulted as part of the process it innovated to bypass the established method for firing her.

“It is impossible to accept a situation in which the court tries to impose on the government a legal adviser who is completely political, which has no trust in her, with whom there is no cooperation, who thwarts the government, and refuses to represent it [in legal proceedings,” Levin said, according to the statement from his office.

He argued that any ruling against her firing would rely on “procedural, technical grounds,” in reference to the fact that the government could not find any former justice ministers or attorneys general to sit on the original advisory committee.

“It is impossible to prevent the dismissal on this basis,” the statement quotes him saying.