Expedited ministerial vote paves way for cabinet to fire attorney general on Sunday

The ministerial committee tasked with reviewing whether the government should fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara unsurprisingly voted Thursday in favor of a resolution stating that the conditions exist to justify her dismissal.

Baharav-Miara’s firing can now be brought before the cabinet for a vote at its next meeting on Sunday, where it will likely pass. However, it is almost certain to face legal hurdles due to the procedure that was used to advance the measure.

The ministerial committee’s vote had been scheduled for Sunday morning, but was moved up, apparently because one of the committee members, Michael Malkieli of Shas, is resigning from his ministerial post due to the coalition crisis over ultra-Orthodox enlistment.

The five-member committee, in its resolution, said that it rejected Baharav-Miara’s argument that the new process for the government to fire her is illegal.

The panel listed a series of complaints that the government has against Baharav-Miara — who boycotted the two ministerial meetings on her dismissal — including claims that she has serially blocked its policies; selectively enforced the law in criminal proceedings; refused to represent the government in legal proceedings on numerous occasions; repeatedly blocked government legislation on the grounds that it is unconstitutional; and refused to allow the government independent legal representation on some occasions when she sided against it.

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

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

The committee was chaired by Diaspora Affairs Minister Amihai Chikli, and also includes Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, Science and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel, and Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli.

Following the approval by the committee of the resolution, an item can 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.

Responding to the panel’s decision, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said, “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 added 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.

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.

The government and the attorney general have been at odds since the government was sworn in at the end of 2022.

In March, the government set in motion the process of firing Baharav-Miara through the recommendation of the public, professional committee used to appoint her in 2022, under the terms of a cabinet resolution from 2000.

But in June, after failing to staff the committee, the cabinet passed a resolution establishing a new five-member ministerial committee that could make the recommendation instead.

The position of attorney general is considered one of the key guardians of the rule of law in Israel, owing to the official’s authority to determine whether the government’s actions comply with the law.

The role of the attorney general was therefore established as an independent official, appointed upon the recommendation of the professional committee to serve a six-year term, and can only be fired upon the recommendation of the same committee.

The government has argued that Baharav-Miara’s frequent opposition to its actions and decisions has made some government work impossible, and devised a new process of firing her that bypassed the public committee and put the power of recommendation in the hands of the ministerial committee.

Critics, including former attorney general Avichai Mandelblit, have, however, condemned the government’s effort to fire Baharav-Miara, saying it will lead to the politicization of the role and thereby enable the government to act unlawfully.