Ministerial committee advances bill to make AG take lie detector test every 2 years
Bill says ‘trust in law enforcement is very low’ due to leaks, selective enforcement, personal interests, as Otzma Yehudit MK continues coalition push against Gali Baharav-Miara
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"
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday advanced an amendment to the General Security Service Law requiring the attorney general to take a polygraph test every two years and answer questions regarding the “leaking of classified information to unauthorized parties.”
The amendment was the coalition’s most recent legislative move against Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, whom it has been unsuccessfully trying for months to fire, while accusing her of working against the government and undermining its interests. Baharav-Miara has opposed several of the government’s signature legislative initiatives, and has refused to defend the government in proceedings in the High Court of Justice against some of its policies and legislation.
If passed into law, the bill, sponsored by Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzhak Kroizer, would also apply to the attorney general’s deputies, the state attorney, and other senior Justice Ministry employees.
In its explanatory notes, the bill argues that “public trust in law enforcement is very low,” due to “constant leaks, selective enforcement, and the promotion of personal interests” when filing indictments.
It also argues that senior employees in the Attorney General’s Office and the Justice Ministry’s advisory and legislative division should be required to take periodic polygraph tests just as senior law enforcement, intelligence, and military officials currently do, in order to “help increase public trust.”
In a post on X following the ministerial committee vote on his bill, Kroizer shared a video containing an apparent AI animation of a polygraph machine shorting out while hooked up to Baharav-Miara.
הגיע הזמן: פוליגרף ליועמ״שים ! pic.twitter.com/nUyzCGm58a
— יצחק קרויזר (@Yitzik_kroizer) January 18, 2026
Kroizer’s bill comes on the heels of the revelation that footage purporting to show guards at the Sde Teiman military base severely abusing a Gazan inmate was leaked last year by then-military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, who admitted in October she had initiated the leak and then lied about it to the High Court.
The criminal investigation into the leaked video stemmed from a failed polygraph test by an officer in the Military Advocate General’s office, reportedly the spokesperson for the unit.
Baharav-Miara has recused herself from the case following a Justice Ministry legal opinion that there was a “possible linkage” between the current police investigation and the MAG’s earlier, fallacious internal probe, which Baharav-Miara oversaw.
The police investigation reportedly found no evidence linking Baharav-Miara to the leak or to the cover-up, and she was neither investigated nor questioned, though Israel Police chief Daniel Levy is reportedly holding off on publishing the findings, due to the fact that National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has accused the attorney general of complicity in the crime and its cover-up.
The Times of Israel Community.