Ben Gvir Accuses AG of Acting As De Facto Opposition Chief

In a letter to fellow coalition party chiefs urging them to back the move, Ben Gvir claimed Baharav-Miara’s approach since the December 29 establishment of the hardline coalition has been to “automatically reject any decision or bill backed by the government or those related to it.”

While members of the ruling coalition have been regularly criticizing Baharav-Miara and have even hinted at a desire to remove her as attorney general, Ben Gvir became the first to openly make such a call.

He claimed that the AG was appointed by the previous unity government “under questionable circumstances,” but that, unlike her conduct over the past two and a half months, she had served as a rubber stamp for the previous cabinet.

Ben Gvir took particular issue with Baharav-Miara freezing his decision to remove Tel Aviv District Police Commander Amichai Eshed from his post over the latter’s purported lenient treatment of protesters who blocked roads during demonstrations against the government’s so-called ‘judicial’ overhaul plan.

“The conduct of the attorney general harms… the ability of the ministers to implement the policies that they were elected to carry out,” he wrote.

Ben Gvir speculated that Baharav-Miara would eventually rule in favor of scrapping whatever legislation the coalition passes in order to overhaul the ‘judiciary.’