Sa’ar pushes to split role of AG, instead of having her fired

Asked if he supports coalition efforts to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar tells reporters during his New Hope party’s weekly faction meeting that he doesn’t know that such a process has begun but that he believes “it’s better to go for a process of splitting the powers of this position than a process of splitting the people.”

Having a chief government legal adviser and a chief prosecutor embodied in the same person creates problems of concentration of power and comes with “a built-in conflict of interest,” he says.

“It is better to split than to dismiss. I always prefer to repair rather than break,” he asserts.

Regarding “legal reforms,” he says he is in favor but they have to be carefully considered and carried out “wisely and responsibly.”

Following the meeting, Sa’ar announces in a statement that New Hope lawmaker Mishel Buskila had submitted a new bill to split the role of the attorney general, based on an outline formulated by Sa’ar when he previously served as justice minister.

“The proposal seeks to resolve the problem of concentration of power and the inherent conflict of interest whereby the person who advises the government and its ministers is also the one authorized to investigate them and bring them to criminal trial,” the statement reads.

The proposed bill would strip the attorney general of her authority over the investigation and prosecution of elected officials, which would be transferred to a committee composed of former High Court justices, a former attorney general and an attorney appointed by the public defender’s office.