A petition by a group of non-governmental organizations for the Supreme Court to order the dismissal of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has caused a rift in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and could plunge Israel into a constitutional crisis.
In a letter to Netanyahu last week, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara asked the prime minister to consider firing the minister, citing evidence that he allegedly interfered directly
in police operations and politicized promotions within the force, threatening its status outside politics.
Baharav-Miara’s appeal to the prime minister came before the attorney general must give her opinion to the Supreme Court in the coming weeks on whether it should accept and review the NGOs’ petition, filed in September.
In her letter, made public by her office, Baharav-Miara backed the NGOs contentions that the minister had personally intervened in the way police chiefs responded to anti-government protests.
She also cited a letter from former Israel Police commissioner Kobi Shabtai, who left office in July, saying that Ben Gvir had instructed senior police officers to disregard cabinet orders to protect humanitarian aid convoys heading to Gaza.
Her letter drew a stinging response from the minister who called publicly for the attorney general to be fired, saying that her request was politically motivated. He has denied any
wrongdoing.
When he entered Netanyahu’s coalition at the end of 2022, Ben-Gvir was given an expanded portfolio, including responsibility for Border Police in the occupied West Bank, despite having been convicted in 2007 of racist incitement against Arabs and backing an extremist nationalist religious group, Kach, designated as a terrorist organization by Israel
and the United States.
A “police law” passed by the Knesset that month – one of Ben Gvir’s conditions for entering the coalition – expanded the powers of the security minister over the police, including setting general policy as well as its operational priorities and guidelines.
Ben Gvir said the law would strengthen the police force and its ability to combat crime, and argued that in all democratic countries the police reported to an elected minister. Critics have argued that the amendments gave Ben Gvir overarching powers over operations and made him the “ultimate police chief.”
Four former police commanders and two legal experts told Reuters that changes Ben Gvir has made to the structure and culture of Israel’s police force have led to its
politicization.
“Minister Ben Gvir is trying, with his authority, to approve appointments or to be involved in promotions and advancements, in order to advance his own political interests,” said Amonon Alkalai, a former police sergeant who resigned in 2021.
Netanyahu – who faces corruption charges – has resisted past calls to dismiss Ben-Gvir. If the minister’s far-right, nationalist Otzma Yehudit party were to withdraw from the governing coalition, Netanyahu would only have a slim majority.
Should the Supreme Court order the prime minister to dismiss his minister and he refuses, Israel could be plunged into constitutional crisis, with the government in defiance of the judiciary, some legal experts say.
With Reuters inputs
