Nearly half of ministers have signed letter in support of firing AG, minister reveals

14 out of the government’s 33 ministers have already signed the letter. If over half of the ministers sign, Government Secretary Adv. Yossi Fuchs must bring up the proposal in the government plenum.

By ELIAV BREUER NOVEMBER 28, 2024 12:14

A-G Gali Baharav-Miara attends the weekly government conference, in Jerusalem's Old City on May 21, 2023 (photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

Nearly half of the government’s ministers have signed a letter demanding to remove Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara from her position, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi revealed in an interview on Radio Kol Hai on Thursday morning.

According to Karhi, 14 out of the government’s 33 ministers have already signed the letter. If over half of the ministers sign, Government Secretary Adv. Yossi Fuchs must bring up the proposal in the government plenum, a spokesperson for Karhi explained.

The attorney-general has a number of responsibilities, including providing constant legal advice to the government; representing the government in petitions against it in the High Court of Justice; and overseeing the state prosecution apparatus. Since the current government’s inception in late December 2022, Baharav-Miara has deemed many government initiatives “not legally viable.” A notable example of this has been her opposition to government initiatives to extend the exemption of haredi men from IDF service, despite a High Court ruling in June that the exemption was illegal.

Karhi and other ministers and MKs have argued that she was intentionally tripping up the government in order to topple it. Members of the opposition have countered that if the government would cease attempting to push through illegal measures, the AG would not need to intervene.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi is seen during a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on May 14, 2023 (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

The High Court of Justice wrote in multiple rulings, including earlier in 2024, that the AG’s legal opinions were binding. However, the government has increasingly ignored her opinions and approved measures she deemed “not legally viable.”

Netanyahu urges Justice Minister to 'propose a solution'

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may not involve himself in the attorney general’s employment, as he is bound by a conflict-of-interest agreement in connection to his ongoing criminal trials. Netanyahu was quoted in a government meeting earlier this month as saying that the AG was “contrarian” and asking Justice Minister Yariv Levin to “propose a solution.” The prime minister’s office clarified soon after, saying that the prime minister respected his conflict of interest agreement and was merely responding to ministers’ complaints.

The letter, which Karhi initiated and which he intends to present to Levin and Fuchs if he obtains a majority in the government, is titled “Complete Lack of Trust between the Government and its ministers and the Attorney General.”

According to the letter, “The Attorney General, who is supposed to serve as a professional tool to assist the government, has de-facto become an Achilles heel that prevents the government from acting according to its policies and realizing the wishes of its voters. This is an anti-democratic trampling of the principle of the rule of the people as it was expressed in the last election and a clear recipe to paralyze the government’s actions.”

Karhi claimed in the Radio Kol Hai interview on Thursday that some ministers were afraid to sign the letter despite their agreement in principle to its content. Karhi was unwilling to say which ministers had already signed and which had not.