Ministerial panel schedules Sunday vote on attorney general’s firing

The ministerial committee tasked with recommending whether the attorney general should be fired will hold a vote on the matter on Sunday.

The committee scheduled a dismissal hearing for Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara today at 10 a.m. but she had already announced on Wednesday that she would not attend since, according to her legal opinion, the dismissal process the government is using is unlawful.

The committee members nevertheless convened for the hearing and waited for an hour and a quarter for Baharav-Miara to show up, before ending the meeting.

Baharav-Miara likewise skipped the hearing the ministerial committee scheduled for her on Monday, for the same reason.

The committee commented on Monday that by waiving the right to a hearing Baharav-Miara was “clearly demonstrating the lack of trust between the attorney general and the government.”

Once the five-member committee has made its recommendation, a vote can be scheduled on the cabinet’s agenda on Baharav-Miara’s dismissal.

The attorney general described the process on Monday as “a sham hearing with a predetermined outcome,” and said on Wednesday that the recently adopted method granting the government unrestrained authority to oust an attorney general “constitutes a severe blow to the rule of law.”

In Monday’s hearing, the committee members reviewed a series of allegations the government has made against Baharav-Miara, including blocking its decisions for political purposes, selective enforcement of the law, and failing to allow the government independent legal representation when she sided against it in legal proceedings.

Baharav-Miara for her part has argued that she has simply restrained the government from acting unlawfully and from advancing unconstitutional legislation.