A special Israeli cabinet committee has moved to recommend the dismissal of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, igniting a fierce legal and institutional crisis over rule-of-law norms.
Jerusalem, July 2025 — In a development fraught with constitutional and institutional implications, a special ministerial committee chaired by Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli voted unanimously on Sunday to recommend the dismissal of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara. The recommendation is scheduled for formal deliberation and a potential vote at next Sunday’s full cabinet meeting.
This move follows weeks of mounting political tension, with critics warning of a direct assault on the independence of the legal system.
Attorney General Baharav-Miara responded sharply to the committee’s advancement of the dismissal process, urging the Supreme Court to intervene without delay. In an official filing to the court, she described the government’s actions as “clearly unlawful” and cautioned that continuing the proceedings was causing “serious institutional harm” to the office of the Attorney General and the broader civil service.
“The court is requested to urgently bring this matter to judicial review and to prevent the government from pressing forward with a discussion on this unlawful dismissal in the cabinet,” Baharav-Miara wrote in her response.
She further warned that allowing the process to proceed unchecked—even if ultimately overturned—would lend dangerous legitimacy to a potentially illegal effort to rewrite the rules governing the removal of Israel’s top legal officer.
“For over five weeks, the government has been moving forward, step by step, with a procedure that is plainly unlawful,” she stated. “This is eroding the integrity and independence of the Attorney General’s office and setting a troubling precedent for Israeli governance.”
The legal standoff intensified after Supreme Court Justice Noam Solberg declined to issue an interim injunction to immediately freeze the government’s actions, prompting the Attorney General’s urgent plea for expedited judicial review.
The attempt to remove Baharav-Miara—widely viewed as a key institutional check on executive overreach—has drawn sharp criticism from opposition leaders, legal scholars, and civil society watchdogs. They argue the move represents a dangerous politicization of the judiciary and could undermine Israel’s democratic framework.
As the government prepares for next week’s showdown, the outcome could set a precedent with far-reaching consequences for judicial independence, executive accountability, and Israel’s separation of powers.
