From the Liveblog of
Monday, November 18, 2024
Smotrich calls on AG to resign, accusing her of ignoring incitement against PM, blocking government policy
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calls on the attorney general to resign, accusing her of failing to respect Israeli democracy.
Addressing reporters ahead of his Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Smotrich says that Gali Baharav-Miara “stands by and does nothing” in the face of incitement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, instead “encouraging the same attacks and expressions of hatred.”
“Instead of respecting Israeli democracy and the will of the public and its elected officials, and allowing the implementation of the government’s policy in accordance with the law,” Baharav-Miara on Sunday evening opposed a government effort to force the retirement of ministerial legal advisers who have served for more than seven years.
Baharav-Miara’s objections were rooted in the desire “only to protect her friends and squeeze millions into their pockets at the expense of the citizens of Israel,” Smotrich says.
