Israeli lawmakers call on A-G to step down in rare Knesset session

The Knesset Constitution Committee convened a meeting on Monday, with the rare attendance of Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara and State Attorney Amit Eisman, on the government’s attempt to counter organized crime in Israel.

The discussion was centered on an exchange of letters between Simcha Rothman (RZP) and the Attorney-General’s Office regarding a committee chaired by the latter, which is responsible for setting the policies of the country’s different law enforcement agencies.

The committee in question was formed by a 2006 government decision and includes the attorney-general, state attorney, Israel Police commissioner, and other financial law enforcement officials.

Rothman accused the attorney-general of ignoring parts of the 2006 decision, such as reporting to the government every half year on the committee’s actions. Rothman repeatedly demanded that Baharav-Miara present him with a document outlining the strategy her committee was responsible for.

Baharav-Miara responded that the prime minister set the government’s policy and that the committee’s responsibility was to set the enforcement policies based on “points of interest” that her committee decides on.

She criticized Rothman for not bringing all of the leaders of the law enforcement agencies to the meeting to give a detailed report and said she would be willing to go into more detail in a closed-door meeting.

Likud MK Moshe Saada called on Baharav-Miara to step down over what he said was the “lack of enforcement” on incitement against the prime minister and other crimes and called on the government to fire her if she refused.

Spyware against organized crime 

Saada also criticized Baharav-Miara for opposing a government bill to enable the use of spyware against organized crime. The attorney-general has demanded that the legislation allow the use of spyware on corruption-related crimes as well.

Ra’am MK Walid al-Hawashla called on the attorney-general for a “harsh hand” against organized crime and demanded to know what the government has done on the subject, including if she had met and discussed the matter with the new Israel Police commissioner.

Democrats MK Gilad Kariv accused Rothman of “gaslighting” and argued that Rothman had no genuine interest in crime in the Arab sector but instead wanted to encourage public opposition to the Attorney-General’s Office as part of the government’s judicial reform. The responsibilities lay at the feet of the National Security Minister, not the attorney-general, Kariv said.

MK Tally Gotliv (Likud) accused the attorney-general of “not succeeding in fighting crime in the Arab sector” because she was “busy tripping up the government.”

The meeting came amid unprecedented tension between the attorney-general and the government over a series of measures that the A-G has deemed “not legally viable” and which the government decided to follow through with regardless.