Police chief backs down on firing top legal adviser after AG says process illegal
Daniel Levy now says move was part of broader round of planned appointments for assistant commissioners which were all halted
Police Commissioner Daniel Levy on Thursday backed down from the process he initiated to dismiss the Israel Police’s top legal adviser after Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara told him last week that his actions were illegal.
According to Hebrew media, Levy explained the apparent zigzag by saying that the move had been part of a broader round of appointments for assistant commissioners, including Elazar Kahana, the force’s top legal adviser, which had been put on hold.
In a letter to Levy last week, Baharav-Miara warned that the police commissioner was legally bound to abide by her instructions to halt the dismissal process, after he initially called her intervention “de facto usurping.”
“The severity of this incident in which the Israel Police — which is responsible for obedience to the law — ignores legal instructions through a claim of independence, cannot be understated,” the attorney general declared in her letter to Levy.
Levy’s announcement that he was moving Kahana to another post — and Baharav-Miara’s subsequent order — further escalated the clash between the attorney general and Public Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir over the latter’s efforts to promote an officer indicted for throwing a stun grenade at anti-government protesters in March 2023, injuring a woman.
Baharav-Miara has called Ben Gvir’s decision to promote Police Superintendent Meir Suissa and appoint him commander of the South Tel Aviv Police Station “illegal,” and told the High Court of Justice in September that the far-right minister should not be allowed independent counsel to fight a lower court order freezing his decision.
Kahana also opposed Suissa’s promotion, saying it contravened police regulations due to the ongoing legal proceedings against him.
The attorney general sent Levy a letter dated Tuesday informing him she was freezing his decision to remove Kahana as ombudsman after the Haaretz daily revealed the police chief had told Kahana that he was being put in charge of the prosecution department, despite not being a candidate for the position.
She said that to ensure their independence, the appointment or removal of a government legal adviser must be done with her approval as they are subordinate to her office, yet Levy did not notify her regarding Kahana.
Baharav-Miara also pointed out that the police legal adviser comes under the authority of her office, and that removing him from this position therefore requires consultation with the attorney general.
The affair comes amid criticism over the far-right Ben Gvir’s management of internal security, with some accusing him of effectively taking over the police over the past two years and subjugating the force to his control. The far-right minister called for heavy crackdowns on anti-government protests last year.
Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.
