Israeli justice minister locks attorney-general out of shared offices

Levin’s driver reportedly called Baharav-Miara's staff following the government vote to fire her, instructing them not to use the offices she previously shared with Levin. When the attorney general refused the request, the locks on the office were changed on Levin's orders.

The move prompted condemnations from the government's political opponents, including Bar Association head Amit Becher, who urged Levin's arrest as an "existential threat" to the Jewish state.

"He is not locking the door in the attorney general's face, but is locking the door in the face of the rule of law in its entirety,” wrote Becher. "This is the latest move in a mad campaign to completely crush the judicial system, while blatantly trampling on Supreme Court rulings."

Supreme Court Deputy President Noam Sohlberg last week upheld a July 18 decision that any vote to sack Baharav-Miara would not take effect until the justices reviewed the procedure and the reasons for the firing.

"Meanwhile, no changes will take place in the powers of the attorney general or the working relationship between her and the government; nor should a replacement be announced," Sohlberg wrote on August 4.

Levin said last week that it is "impossible to accept a situation in which the court tries to impose on the government an attorney general who is completely political, which has no trust in her, with whom there is no cooperation, who fails the government and refuses to represent it."

He said the decision to remove Baharav-Miara was not taken overnight, but was part of a long process in which ministers first tried to work with her. "We gave her all the opportunities to express her position. She did not address the allegations in a substantive manner at any stage," he said.

Levin noted that the attorney general did not attend hearings scheduled to give her the chance to defend her position nor did she send a representative on her behalf, claiming "this attests to her deep contempt for the government".

Baharav-Miara's firing followed ministerial panels in July led by Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli, which had voted to recommend that the government fire the attorney general.

Baharav-Miara was summoned twice within one week for a hearing, but failed to appear, claiming that the procedure established by the cabinet was illegal.

While the government has the authority to fire an attorney general, in the past, such a decision could only be made on the recommendation of a professional committee composed of justices, lawyers, academics and ministers.

However, in a unanimous decision on June 8, the cabinet amended the procedure by which an attorney general may be dismissed, so that the justice minister can submit a request for the dismissal to a panel composed of five government ministers.

Under the new system, after a hearing by the ministerial committee, a vote to dismiss must be brought before the full cabinet, at least 75 per cent of whom must vote in favour.

Chikli alleged that efforts to fire Baharav-Miara came against the backdrop of "inappropriate conduct and substantial and prolonged differences of opinion between the government and the attorney general, creating a situation that prevents effective cooperation."

Israel's governing coalition has been at loggerheads with the attorney general since its formation after the general election of November 2022.

Baharav-Miara had been appointed to the post by the previous government led by then-Prime Minister Naftali Bennett that same year.

Current Prime Minister Netanyahu and his ministers have long accused her of misusing her office to thwart their right-wing policy platform. Her supporters, though, claim that she has made proper use of her independence to block government plans that violate constitutional law, including contentious judicial reforms and the (ultimately successful) attempt to fire former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.