Newly formed ministerial panel backs motion to fire AG; cabinet vote set for Sunday

The ministerial committee tasked with reviewing whether the government should fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara votes in favor of a resolution finding that the conditions exist justifying her dismissal.

The vote had been scheduled for Sunday morning, but was moved up to this evening, possibly due to the fact that one of the committee members, Michael Malkieli of Shas, is resigning from office due to the coalition crisis over ultra-Orthodox enlistment.

The committee, in its resolution, says it rejects Baharav-Miara’s argument that the new process for firing the attorney general — which the government has adopted — is illegal.

And it lists a series of complaints that the government has against Baharav-Miara — who boycotted the meetings on her dismissal — including serially blocking its policies; selective enforcement of the law in criminal proceedings; refusing to represent the government in legal proceedings on numerous occasions; repeatedly blocking government legislation on the grounds that it is unconstitutional; and refusing to allow the government independent legal representation on some occasions when she sided against it.

The committee states that as a result of these problems, the conditions allowing the government to fire the attorney general listed in a cabinet resolution from 2000 — that there is a “substantive and ongoing difference of opinion between the government and the attorney general, preventing effective cooperation” — have been fulfilled.

Following the approval by the committee of the resolution, an item can now be added to the agenda of the next cabinet meeting, which will likely take place on Sunday, for the government to vote on dismissing the attorney general.

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid says in response that “an illegitimate, minority government is trying to oust the attorney general in an unlawful process in order to divert attention from its failures, from draft evasion by the ultra-Orthodox, from an endless war, from hostages who aren’t returning.”

Lapid adds that his party will file petitions to the High Court of Justice against a decision to fire the attorney general. The High Court this week rejected petitions against the new method of firing the attorney general, declining to intervene since the ministerial panel had not convened yet. The court will now be compelled to rule on the legality of the new system.