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The Laws to Split the Attorney General’s Position: Abolishment of Independence

>> Click here to read the full Position Paper

This document addresses three legislative proposals to split the powers of the Attorney General, which were submitted to the Knesset as private members bills, endorsed by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, and approved in a preliminary reading on 29 October 2025: Bill for Amendment of the Attorney General Law-2022, submitted by MK Hanoch Milwidsky; Bill for Splitting the Position of Attorney General-2024, submitted by MK Michel Buskila; and Bill for Splitting the Position of Attorney General-2025, submitted by MK Simcha Rothman and others.

Their wording suggests that their sole purpose is to emasculate the current Attorney General, to eliminate the independent status of the legal counseling institution, and to subordinate it to the government. A perusal of the bills shows that they are not based on any substantive discussion about splitting the position, even though the Attorney General’s status, functions, and powers were reviewed at length by two public panels (the 1962 Agranat Commission and the Shamgar Commission, which presented its recommendations in 1998) as well other studies on the subject.

Not only are these bills not intended to address fundamental structural or principled questions concerning the institution of Attorney General and State Prosecutor, but should be seen as an integral part of the Israeli government’s broader regime revolution seeking to place all branches of government under the dominance of the political echelon.

The purpose of these bills is to harm the law enforcement authorities, first and foremost the Attorney General, for two main reasons: first, because the incumbent Gali Baharav-Miara continues to stand as a bulwark against the government’s intention to change Israel’s system of government and its daily efforts to undermine the foundational principles of the democratic system; and second, as an attempt to disrupt, and implicitly even annul, the criminal proceedings against Prime Minister Netanyahu, which he and his close associates have been doing their utmost to derail.

The document sets out the reasons why the three bills under consideration should be rejected outright, primarily because they fail to ensure the independence of the Attorney General and State Prosecutor from political influence, and also because they do not condition appointment to these positions on the requisite qualifications.

In light of the above, here are Zulat’s recommendations:

  • Reject any proposal seeking to change the structure of the institution of Attorney General at this time, as such proposals are intended to undermine the standing of Gali Baharav-Miara, to further advance the regime revolution, and to interfere with the proceedings against Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is standing trial on criminal charges.
  • Enact legislation to strengthen the independence of the institution of Attorney General and State Prosecutor, and to entrench in law the status of the Attorney General as guardian of the rule of law and as the authority whose legal interpretation is binding on all branches of government, up until it is ruled otherwise by the courts.
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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.