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Efforts To Dismiss the Attorney General: Direct Blow to Israel’s Democracy and Civil Rights

>> Click here to read the full Position Paper

Since the establishment of the 37th government at the end of 2022, the State of Israel has been undergoing an extensive regime change. Under Prime Minister Netanyahu’s leadership, the government has been preparing the infrastructure for a transition to a predatory dictatorial regime. These preparations include bills that infringe on democracy, human rights, and equality, alongside political appointments, attacks on the judiciary, and the takeover of law enforcement authorities.

In this paper, Zulat focuses on the efforts to terminate the tenure of the Attorney General, Adv. Gali Baharav-Miara, and the attendant implications on Israel’s democratic regime and the rights of its citizens.

The Importance of the Attorney General’s Role and the Efforts To Fire Her

The role is intended to ensure that the government operates within the bounds of the law while upholding the public interest and loyalty to the rule of law. As such, the Attorney General is considered a central “gatekeeper” who fulfills critical functions:

• Running the criminal prosecution: Overseeing the State Attorney’s Office, approving investigations against senior officials, and setting enforcement policy.
• Representing the state in court in civil, administrative, and international matters.
• Providing legal counsel to the government: Issuing binding legal opinions to the government and its ministries on interpretation of the law.
• Protecting the public interest: Taking a stand in matters of public importance, even in cases where the state is not a side to them.

As part of the initiatives led by the current government, an ongoing incitement campaign is being conducted against the Attorney General. The efforts to remove her from office stem from disagreements over her professional decisions and legal interpretations, which at times contradict the government’s wishes. This campaign, which intensified upon the start of Netanyahu’s trial and his indictment on corruption charges, is part of a broader process aimed at undermining the independence of the judiciary and dismantling the mechanisms overseeing the government’s actions.

The Dangers Entailed in Termination

Zulat warns that firing the Attorney General would deal a direct blow to democracy and civil rights:

• Criminalization of political opponents: Appointing a government-friendly Attorney General (“a puppet”) would enable the initiation of criminal proceedings against political opponents.

• Restriction of freedom of expression and protest: It would allow the criminalization of anti-government protest and criticism.

• Immunity of governmental corruption: The Attorney General is the one who currently stands in the way of absolute immunity for the Prime Minister, ministers, and coalition MKs.

• Facilitating political appointments: Appointing cronies to public positions amid total disregard for professional qualifications.

• Election manipulation: In the absence of independent legal oversight, the government could use state resources for political campaigns and could skew the outcome of elections.

Zulat proposes an amendment to the Civil Service Law-1959 (Appointments), which would clearly limit the government’s ability to fire an Attorney General. It would ensure that the government is unable to terminate an Attorney General’s tenure due to disagreements over legal interpretation or because of prosecutorial directives or decisions. Termination would be permitted only in exceptional cases and based on the recommendation of an independent public committee. In cases of significant disagreement, the government would be required to turn to the courts rather than resort to termination.

Zulat warns that dismissing the Attorney General is a dangerous move, part of a broader effort to weaken Israeli democracy and establish total political control over the judicial system. Her removal from office would undermine the status of the Attorney General as an independent authority, erode the rule of law, and severely harm human rights and the proper functioning of the state.

Zulat calls for blocking this process and protecting the status and independence of the Attorney General as one of the pillars of Israeli democracy.

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Dr. Maha Sabbah Karkabi

 

Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Tel Aviv University (2015), a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Gender Studies, SOAS, University of London (2015-2016), a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Sociology at Tel Aviv University (2016-2017), and a postdoctoral fellowship Ph.D. at the Humphrey Institute for Social Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (2018-2020).
Dr. Maha Karbahi’s areas of interest focus on the connection between social change, family behavior, and gender inequality in societies in the process of change and specifically in Palestinian Arab society in Israel. Her research draws attention to the study of family life and employment, using a combined “ethnic lens” and “gender lens” and paying attention to the perspective of Palestinian Arab women, a group characterized by intersections between multiple marginal locations, which over the years has remained hidden from the research eye. Dr. Karkabi-Sabah’s research is published in professional journals and chapters in scientific books that are considered pioneers in family research, work, and gender equality.

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Prof. Frances Raday

Professor Emeritus in the Lieberman Chair in Labor Law, in the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University and serves as a full professor in the College of Management’s academic track, where she also serves as chair of the graduate program and as honorary president of the Concord Center for International Law Absorption. Radai was a member of a working group of the UN Human Rights Council on discrimination against women. In addition, she is a prominent and feminist human rights activist.

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Dr. Rawia Aburabia 

Faculty member of Sapir Academic College’s School of Law, received her PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research deals with the interface between law, gender, minorities, and human rights. Has published in leading journals on the subject of the matrimonial laws pertaining to Muslim women in Israel. Her book Under the Law, Outside Justice: Polygamy, Gendered Citizenship, and Colonialism in Israeli Law is expected to be published as part of the Gender Series of Kibbutz Meuhad Publishing House.

Dr. Aburabia has extensive experience in international human rights and public law. She has worked as a jurist for the Association for Civil Right and has been invited as a specialist to address such international forums as the United Nations and the European Parliament on the subject of indigenous communities and minority rights. She has interned with Human Rights Watch in Washington DC, and has been a member of the executive board of Amnesty International. In 2018, she was selected by the magazine Globes as one of the 40 most promising young persons in Israel under the age of 40.

 

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Ron Kessler

With over two decades of experience in the field of digital content, Ron has participated in numerous political and social campaigns. He helped run the digital activity of senior public officials, and worked in various NGOs. Ron is a fundamentally optimistic man, who believes that Israel can be changed and so can people. Lives in Tel Aviv.