Israeli government ministers blast attorney general, claim ‘selective enforcement’ of protest policing

During the Israeli government’s weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara was called to address what the coalition claims is an inequality in policing of protests. 

The meeting, which lasted five hours, turned into a fiery session of accusations from coalition ministers about the attorney general's alleged “selective enforcement” of procedures for protests. 

Government ministers implied that Baharav-Miara has applied a lenient standard when evaluating anti-judicial reform protesters in comparison to past policing of anti-government protests. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, himself, sharply criticized Baharav-Miara during the hearing, accusing her of ignoring the phenomenon of “insubordination” in the case of reservists refusing to serve. 

“You don't deal with or do anything against those who incite to refusal and non-service in the IDF, against those who act for sedition. It's total inaction, it's a blow to state security!" the prime minister told her. 

Israel's Minister of Transport, National Infrastructure and Road Safety, Miri Regev, accused the attorney general of contradicting past precedent, including decisions made by previous attorney generals. 

“If the attorney general supports and enables the violation of public order, contrary to the positions of the Supreme Court and the attorney generals in the past, then what is the role of elected officials? What is the role of government? If the attorney general decides everything but can't help the government function, then maybe she should be fired,” Regev said.

This is not the first time government ministers have called for removing Baharav-Miara from her government position. 

On Saturday, Minister of Regional Cooperation David Amsalem called for the attorney general to be removed from her position, during his interview with local N12 news . 

“She doesn't deserve the job and she never has,” Amsalem said during the interview. “I think if she had a little self-respect, she'd put down the keys and go.” 

Even before the current government came into power, coalition members attacked Baharav-Miara’s lack of experience and said she was only appointed to the position to resist the coalition government. 

Amsalem also criticized the previous attorney general, Avichai Mandelblit, who was appointed by Netanyahu but later became a leading figure in the criminal investigations against the premier. 

“Mandelblit's appointment was a serious mishap,” Amsalem said. “A lot of the critical mistakes you make are actually from the people you appoint, who are close to you, and they turn on you.” 

Amsalem also complained about the handling of the judicial reform protests during the interview. 

“There is no peace in disturbances. There is anarchy here, there is a challenge to the rule of law, and therefore the demonstrators must be dispersed,” he said. 

In the demonstrations against former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Disengagement Plan in 2005, anti-government protesters were arrested for blocking roads and disobeying police instructions to disperse. 

In the hearing, Baharav-Miara said that protesters must be allowed to cause disturbances, saying, “there can be no effective protest without disturbing public order.” 

Netanyahu called her statement “shocking.” 

When asked whether any protest leaders or individual protesters had been investigated over their statements or actions, the attorney general deferred the question to Yoav Tellem, deputy head of the Police Intelligence and Investigations Division. He said that no one has been investigated since the start of the protests. 

Baharav-Miara also said she believes it is inappropriate to address concrete cases regarding the policy of enforcement for the protests, saying the government has a conflict of interest, since the protests are against the government. 

Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin accused the attorney general of having a conflict of interest because she, herself, has previously spoken out against the judicial reform plan. 

“I recall that madam gave a speech against the reform. Aren't you in a conflict of interest?” he asked her. “We are asking for information and clarifications in order to reflect them to all citizens of Israel.”  

Opposition leader Yair Lapid condemned the attacks on the attorney general at the cabinet meeting.

“The government did a violent hazing to the attorney general today. The ministers' ugly attack on Gali Baharav-Miara, a decent gatekeeper who is just doing her job, is a demonstration of what they are trying to do to Israeli society: bullying instead of the rule of law, government violence against citizens and officials, forceful elimination of our democracy,” Lapid wrote on social media.