Gideon Sa'ar: No choice but to remove Gali Baharav-Miara

Following the decision of Justice Minister Yariv Levin to initiate removal proceedings for Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara today (Wednesday), Foreign Minister and former Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar released a statement explaining why he supports this move, even though he appointed her in the first place.

Sa'ar began by describing what brought him to this decision:

"Removing the Attorney General from their position is an unusual step. A step that has not been taken since the 1980s. But the functioning of the current Attorney General is also highly unusual. She has become a full-fledged political player who systematically acts against the government with the transparent goal of bringing it down. Everyone who wants to topple the government supports her, and vice versa. This is a position that the government's legal counsel should not be in.

"For some time now, she has not maintained proper working relationships with the government and ministers. Everything is a "legal obstacle."

He then explained that things have come to a head, even if the government did not object as much as it should have to her approach:

"It cannot be said that the current government did not challenge the Attorney General, and during known periods there was value in her stance and some of her positions. But there is no place in the world where a legal advisor consistently, systematically, and unrestrainedly acts against the government they are supposed to advise. All this - while stretching the boundaries of the role itself to impossible places.

"Her continued imposition on the government is a serious governmental failure that severely harms the functioning of the executive branch. I have seen this time and time again - and up close - in the last six months."

He then conceded that he had been the one to choose Baharav-Miara and that he now regretted his choice in light of the facts:

"I brought to the government, three years ago, the proposal to choose Attorney Gali Baharav-Miara for the position of Attorney General. According to the exact same concept by which I brought her candidacy (and which is anchored in my statements at the government meeting in February 2022) and according to her current conduct - there is no doubt that she should end her role.

"If all the facts known to me today were known to me then - I would not have proposed her candidacy. This is, of course, hindsight. It is better to learn from mistakes than to entrench in them.

"Attorney Baharav-Miara left the Minister of Justice no choice but to take the action he announced tonight, and it is she who, through her conduct, convinced that this step is necessary."

Sa'ar is also working with Justice Minister on a number of laws aimed at reforming parts of the justice system, the most important of which would change the complement of the Knesset Judicial Selection Committee such that elected representatives, in the coalition and the opposition, would decide on appointments rather than judges themselves.