Bill proposed to limit Israeli attorney general’s powers withdrawn following uproar

Article updated 3:38 Israel time.

Likud Knesset Member Eli Dallal has withdrawn a bill designed to split up and limit the powers of the attorney general.

It was submitted by 11 lawmakers from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.

Following an outcry over the bill's submission, the Likud Knesset member said he withdrew it "out of a true and sincere desire for compromise."

The bill sought to deny the attorney general the power to prosecute members of the Israeli cabinet, which includes the prime minister and the most senior ministers in government, to the state attorney.

However, the Netanyahu-led Likud party quickly distanced itself from the new bill.

“Such bills will not be advanced without the approval of the coalition leaders and [this bill] is not on the agenda,” read the official statement from the Likud party.

In addition, the party stressed that the bill was a “private” initiative and “was not coordinated with the leaders of the coalition.”

The new bill came merely days after the coalition government succeeded in passing the Reasonableness Standard Bill, a controversial law that prevents the courts from reviewing government decisions in the absence of a written Israeli constitution.

Tensions have been increasing further between the coalition government and Israel's current attorney general this past month.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara tried to curtail the Netanyahu government’s ambitions to change the balance of power between the judicial and legislative branches.

Some senior government officials have accused the attorney general of inequality in policing of protests and of siding with anti-government protestors who oppose the controversial judicial overhaul plan.

In early July, Israeli Minister of Regional Cooperation David Amsalem blasted the attorney general and demanded she be removed from her position.

“She doesn't deserve the job and she never has,” Amsalem said.

“I think if she had a little self-respect, she'd put down the keys and go,” he added.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned the verbal attack on Baharav-Miara, saying “There will always be a place for criticism, that is how democracy works,” he said, “but the unrestrained lambasting of civil servants is intolerable and unacceptable."

There have been tense relations with the attorney general since Netanyahu resumed office in January.

In May, Baharav-Miara refused to entertain the idea of a proposed mediation process for Netanyahu’s corruption trials.

Two months prior, in March, the attorney general called out Netanyahu for getting involved in the judicial reform proceedings, stating that it was “illegal and tainted by a conflict of interest.”

Netanyahu is currently engaged in criminal proceedings in three cases: Case 1000 for illegal acceptance of more than $210,000 in gifts; Case 2000 for fraud and breach of trust; and Case 4000 for bribery.