A-G Denies Considering Move to Oust Netanyahu

By Hamodia Staff

YERUSHALAYIM — Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara denied on Monday evening that she has been contemplating what the coalition parties branded as an attempt to oust Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Baharav-Miara was responding to an extraordinary letter of rebuke from the coalition earlier Monday that said: “Recently, several news items were published in the media according to which you are holding discussions regarding the possibility of compelling the Prime Minister of Israel to ‘take a leave of absence.’ To our astonishment, you have not denied these reports until now,” said the letter, as quoted in media reports.

“An attempt to declare or announce such a move for an incumbent leader is a clearly illegal attempt to depose and overthrow an elected and legal government, without an iota of justification by the law,” the letter warned, in effect accusing her of plotting a coup.

It was signed by the heads of all the coalition members, with the exception of Netanyahu’s Likud, on behalf of which Justice Minister Yariv Levin signed.

Thus challenged, the attorney general wrote back a stiff disavowal of the reports which were aired late last week:

“In response to your letter, and without reacting to the issues as you have described them, I want to clarify that contrary to reports in the media, I have not held discussions relating to the leave of absence for the prime minister.”

The reports came days after Baharav-Miara notified Netanyahu that he remains bound by conflict of interest rules drawn up in 2020 by former attorney-general Avichai Mandelblit, barring him from making senior law enforcement and judicial appointments, or getting involved in legislative matters that may impact his ongoing trial. Netanyahu disputes the point, asserting that he was never bound by the rules.