Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today (Thursday), in a response he sent to the High Court of Justice, attacked Attorney General Gali Baharav Meyara for her assertion that National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir should be dismissed.
In his response, the Prime Minister claimed that the authority to dismiss a minister is vested solely in the Prime Minister according to the Basic Law: The Government, and that the court or the Legal Advisor to the Government are not authorized to order dismissal.
Netanyahu's main argument in the document is that the advisor acted in an administratively improper manner by directly approaching the court and presenting her new position regarding the violation of the outline, without priorly making an orderly and reasoned appeal to the Prime Minister - who is the only person authorized to remove a minister from office.
In a letter to the High Court, the Prime Minister wrote: "At the outset, it is surprising that the advisor first presented this new position, according to which the minister does not comply with her view of the outline of principles, precisely in the context of an update notice to the Honorable Court. This was followed by her appeal to the administrative entity whose decision is being challenged in the petitions in the title, namely the Prime Minister, as required by law, and especially in unfounded petitions that in practice seek the extreme remedy of removing the minister from his position in the government.".
It also said: "It goes without saying that the bewilderment regarding the aforementioned conduct is intensified because the advisor herself acted differently in earlier stages" - referring to her letter last November to the Prime Minister, to which Netanyahu attached a detailed response from the minister to her claims.
Netanyahu also clarified that according to the government's position, Minister Ben Gvir is not violating the outline of principles and is acting in accordance with it. "When the Legal Advisor to the Prime Minister announces that an urgent hearing should be held on the petitions regarding the minister's tenure, she is in effect stating that, in her opinion, there is a constitutional possibility of dismissing a minister due to those violations and allegations. It will be clarified and emphasized right now that this position is unacceptable to the Prime Minister and the government, and is not possible in the Israeli legal system.".
The Prime Minister added: "Beyond this, there is no constitutional provision that prevents Minister Ben-Gvir from serving in his position as Minister of National Security, or one that allows him to be removed from his position due to one conduct or another, other than the possibility in Article 22 (b) of the Basic Law, that is, by a decision of the Prime Minister subject to his considerations.".
""There is no basis for the assertion that Minister Ben Gvir's tenure at the Ministry of National Security involves a number of administrative decisions that allegedly lead to a violation of police independence, and that the remedy for the problem that is allegedly arising is the extreme act of judicial removal of the minister from his position.".
Earlier this month, the Attorney General appealed to the High Court of Justice demanding that Itamar Ben-Gvir's term as Minister of National Security be revoked.
This is because, according to Baharav Meyara: "The minister is violating his obligations and is harming the proper and professional operation of the police in violation of the law.".
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