Israeli government votes to dismiss attorney general, escalating standoff with judiciary

Jerusalem – The Israeli cabinet voted unanimously on Monday to dismiss the Attorney General, degenerating a long -standing confrontation between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the judicial power that criticism considers a threat to the country’s democratic institutions.

The Supreme Court froze this decision while considering legality.

Netanyahu and his supporters accuse the prosecutor General Gali Baharav-Miara of going beyond his powers by blocking the decisions of the elected government, including a decision to dismiss the head of the internal security agency of Israel, another ostensibly apolitical office. She said there was a conflict of interest because Netanyahu and several former assistants face a series of criminal surveys.

Critics accuse Netanyahu, who is judged for corruption, of undermining judicial independence and of seeking to concentrate power in the hands of his coalition government, the most nationalist and most religious in the history of Israel. Netanyahu denies allegations and says that he is the victim of a witch hunt by hostile judicial leaders that the media were encouraged by the media.

An attempted government of Netanyahu to revise the judiciary in 2023 sparked months of mass demonstrations, and many believe that it weaken the country before the attack on October 7 of Hamas later that year which sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.

The movement for the quality government in Israel, an eminent surveillance group, said that he had filed an emergency request to the Supreme Court after the vote on Monday. He said that more than 15,000 citizens have joined the petition, qualifying the dismissal “illegal” and “unprecedented”.

In a statement, the group accused the government of modifying the dismissal procedures after having failed to legally withdraw the Baharav-Miara under the existing rules. He also cited a conflict of interest linked to the current trial of Netanyahu.

“This decision transforms the role of the Attorney General into a political appointment,” said the group. “The legal battle will continue until this defective decision is canceled.”