Gali Baharav-Miara. (Courtesy)
The ongoing controversy in Israel over the Benjamin Netanyahu government’s efforts at judicial reform and its assertion that the attorney general’s office has exerted too much power over the years came to a head recently as Israel’s Justice Minister Yair Levin announced plans to fire the nation’s current attorney general Gali Baharav Miara, claiming that she overstepped her authority on numerous occasions and accusing her of obstructing the government’s agenda.. In response, the heads of Israel’s eight universities threatened to have their institutions go on strike should she be fired.
The attorney general in Israel is known in Hebrew as the “Legal Advisor to the Government.” As such, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has maintained that the position was never intended to be one of independent authority, whereby the office holder can issue orders preventing government actions and that the position was intended to simply advise the government on legal matters.
Also, in its first year in office the Netanyahu government sought to change the law so that any new government could appoint a new attorney general, rather than seeing the position held for a set term of office. Critics charge that this would mean that the attorney general would no longer be independent of political pressures and be able to serve as a check on government powers.
Will you offer us a hand? Every gift, regardless of size, fuels our future.
Your critical contribution enables us to maintain our independence from shareholders or wealthy owners, allowing us to keep up reporting without bias. It means we can continue to make Jewish Business News available to everyone.
You can support us for as little as $1 via PayPal at [email protected].
Thank you.
Netanyahu’s government may have been inspired by President Trump having made similar moves in his first six weeks in office in the US. However, Israel and America have different forms of government and in Israel there have always been independent offices that are intended to serve as watchdogs of government.
Concern for the fact that firing the attorney general could irreparably harms Israel’s democratic nature was sited in the open letter released by the Israeli university leaders.
“We, the undersigned university presidents, hereby warn of an unprecedented danger to the rule of law in the State of Israel if the Legal Advisor to the Government is dismissed,” reads the letter. “In the democratic government practiced in Israel, the attorney general is the most important gatekeeper against possible government violations of the civil and individual rights of the country’s residents.”
“She constitutes, together with the courts, the buffer between democratic rule in which checks and balances on the government are necessary, and tyrannical dictatorial rule in which the government can do as it pleases,” they added. “The State Comptroller is the one who maintains proper government order. Together with the courts, she constitutes the buffer between a democratic government in which checks and balances on the government are necessary, and a tyrannical dictatorial government in which the government can do as it pleases.”
Israel’s Minister of Education Yoav Kisch responded to threat with a statement saying the university leaders must be confused.
“The threats of a strike to influence policy do not deter us,” he said. “The end of democracy will not come because of the dismissal of the Minister of Justice, but on the contrary – the will of the people will finally be expressed.”
“An attorney general who has been in opposition to the government in every action from day one does not deserve to remain in her position, and therefore the impeachment process has begun,” Kisch charged. “It would have been better if she had resigned on her own initiative.”
Gali Baharav-Miara is an Israeli lawyer who has been serving as the Attorney General of Israel since February 7, 2022, marking the first time a woman has held this position. Prior to her appointment, she had a distinguished career in civil and administrative law, notably serving as the Tel Aviv District Attorney for Civil Affairs from 2007 to 2015.
