On Wednesday, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he could not participate in the government’s efforts to overhaul the legal and judicial system due to its continued prosecution of corruption.
The statement was widely criticized by coalition party leaders, who said in a joint statement that it went against the “unambiguous mandate” the government had been given by voters.
Baharav-Miara issued the warning after the Israeli group Movement for Quality Government last month petitioned the Supreme Court asking for a review of Netanyahu’s conflict of interest agreement since he returned to power as prime minister in January.
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Security authorities are “really concerned” that Baharav-Miara could be injured, the Haaretz daily said on Thursday, raising the threat level for her to the highest imaginable. According to the article, the Attorney General will have a greater security detail.
In her letter made public on Thursday, Baharav-Miara wrote to Netanyahu: “As Prime Minister, you should refrain from initiatives involving the justice system within the framework known as ‘the legal reform’.
“This is due to the reasonable suspicion of a conflict of interest between matters relating to the legal proceedings against you and the range of legislative initiatives and their substantive components” that the government is making progress with its package of legal reforms, she continued.
“This includes any direct or indirect action or instruction through others, including the involvement of officers who serve in your office as political appointees,” added the attorney general.
The planned legal overhaul includes new laws that would give the government a supermajority on the panel responsible for selecting judges for all federal courts, including the Supreme Court.
In the event that Netanyahu is found guilty of corruption charges in his trial before the Jerusalem District Court, he would have the right to appeal to the Supreme Court, to which his government is likely to appoint judges while in office.
While discussing the comprehensive proposed by his government legal reform package with CNN on Tuesdaythe prime minister stated that he was open to “hearing counter-offers”, suggesting he has some say in the process of formulating and promoting the reforms.
Coalition party leaders issued a joint statement condemning the Attorney General’s letter and citing her attitude “in stark contrast to the undeniable mandate we received from Israeli citizens in the elections” and stated that they “absolutely rejected” it.
“There is no connection between legal reform [Justice Minister] Yariv Levin, whose goal is to restore democracy in Israel and the prime minister’s problems. they continued.
“Those who have a conflict of interest are basically the legal advisers. On the one hand, they are fighting against the reforms in public and in the Knesset, which will erode their status, and on the other, they are exploiting their positions to thwart them.”
Netanyahu and the heads of Shas, United Torah Judaism, Yitzhak Goldknopf, Religious Zionism, Otzma Yehudit, Itamar Ben Gvir and Noam issued the statement, according to a Likud spokesman.
After hearing the attorney general’s warning to Netanyahu, the Movement for Quality Government issued a statement praising the decision but calling on the prime minister to “immediately remove his hands from the destruction of Israel’s legal and democratic system.
While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Justice Minister Tzipi Levin was highly critical of Baharav’s letter to Miara, accusing her of a conflict of interest.
Some of the proposed changes, he said, will affect the role of the state’s attorney general and other legal advisers.
“It seems that conflict of interest is a very strange thing. An elected official is prohibited from speaking about legal advice reforms, but the Attorney General and her staff may block reforms that directly affect their powers. Levin said.
Attorney General Baharav-Miara submitted an opinion to the Supreme Court in January stating that her predecessor Avichai Mandelblit’s 2020 conflict of interest agreement for Netanyahu was still in effect.
As part of the agreement, Netanyahu is barred from participating in activities that could jeopardize the credibility of witnesses or other defendants in the case against him or from any legislation that could affect the judicial process.
In addition, he has no say in matters pertaining to the careers of various senior police and prosecution officials, some policy areas overseen by the Ministry of Communications, or the Judicial Selection Board.
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