The Times of Israel: Cabinet unanimously reappoints Ben Gvir as police minister,
ignoring AG’s objections
Move by
ministers to bring Otzma Yehudit back into coalition expected to win Knesset
support Wednesday despite concerns over far-right firebrand’s disregard for
court rulings
By Jeremy Sharon Follow
and ToI Staff
Today, 7:13 am
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet voted late
Tuesday to reappoint far-right politician Itamar Ben Gvir as national security
minister, after Israel’s resumed offensive in Gaza paved the way for the
firebrand’s return to the governing coalition.
Ben Gvir, who took his Otzma Yehudit party out of the
government in January to protest the ceasefire, won unanimous support from the
cabinet, Netanyahu’s office said.
In voting to appoint Ben Gvir to his old position of
minister in charge of policing, cabinet members disregarded Attorney General
Gali Baharav-Miara, who had advised Netanyahu that doing so would not be
possible from a legal perspective.
The decision to defy Baharav-Miara marked the latest point
of contention between the government and its top jurist, who has faced
near-constant criticism and calls for her firing, particularly from Ben Gvir.
The cabinet also voted unanimously to reappoint Otzma
Yehudit MK Amichai Eliyahu as heritage minister and Yitzhak Wasserlauf as
Negev, Galilee and national resilience minister, the Prime Minister’s Office
said in a short statement shortly after midnight.
Ben Gvir and Netanyahu announced on Tuesday morning that
Otzma Yehudit was returning to the government following the resumption of
Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
Hours earlier, Israel’s air force launched fresh raids in
the Gaza Strip that targeted mid-level Hamas commanders, members of the terror
group’s politburo, and its infrastructure.
“Together in strength, for the sake of the people of
Israel,” Ben Gvir posted on X following the announcement on Tuesday afternoon,
sharing a photo of himself with Netanyahu in the Knesset plenum.
Ben Gvir left the coalition in January because he was
opposed to the ceasefire and hostage-prisoner release deal with Hamas, but said
he would return if fighting resumed after the first stage of that arrangement.
But in a terse statement to the press later Tuesday, the
Attorney General’s Office said that Baharav-Miara has told Netanyahu that “from
a legal perspective, it is not possible to appoint Minister [sic] Itamar Ben
Gvir as national security minister at this time.”
The statement did not provide further details, but
Baharav-Miara’s concerns are thought to stem from Ben Gvir’s repeated
intervention into operational police matters which the High Court had
previously told him he must refrain from, and his politicization of police
promotions.
The lawmaker has been accused of using the police to crack
down on anti-government protests that do not align with his views, going so far
as to publicly dress down senior police officials whom he thought had treated
activists too gently.
In an opinion published in late 2024 following High Court
petitions seeking Ben Gvir’s dismissal for violating the law and High Court
rulings as minister, Baharav-Miara noted numerous acts of intervention by Ben
Gvir into police operations. She also cited a letter by former police
commissioner Kobi Shabtai that Ben Gvir had instructed senior police officers
to disregard cabinet orders regarding the protection of humanitarian aid
convoys on their way to Gaza.
“It appears that the minister is using his authority to make
appointments and end the tenure of officers in a manner which constitutes
illegitimate intervention in the operational running of the police,”
Baharav-Miara wrote at the time.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s offices published the text
of the diatribe that it said he unleashed at Baharav-Miara — who he appointed
in 2022 when serving as justice minister — during the cabinet meeting.
Sa’ar said he racked his brain to find a historical analogy
for Baharav-Miara’s “conduct harming the government” before settling on
Japanese “kamikaze” fighter pilots during World War II “who committed suicide
on enemy targets.”
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi of the Likud denounced
Baharav-Miara over her opposition to Ben Gvir’s appointment, saying her
professional opinion “doesn’t interest anyone, especially not an elected
government working in the name of the people.”
He claimed she would soon be ousted from office, noting Ben
Gvir’s support for removing her.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin recently set in motion a
process to fire Baharav-Miara, although it will likely take weeks before it can
be completed, if at all.
The addition of Otzma Yehudit to the government will give
Netanyahu’s coalition a measure of maneuverability as it seeks to pass a budget
over threats from some Haredi lawmakers that they could torpedo the spending
bill and bring down the government, if certain legislative demands are not met.
Prior to leaving the government, Ben Gvir — who has a
history of clashing with his political allies — began voting against the
coalition on important budget-related bills in the Knesset. This opposition
forced Netanyahu to leave his hospital bed in December while recovering from
surgery in order to cast a ballot to ensure that a critical bill was approved.
It remains unclear whether the party’s return to the
government will bring about a reconciliation with MK Almog Cohen, who continued
to vote with the coalition during his party’s time in the opposition — and has
long been on the outs with his fellow Otzma Yehudit lawmakers.
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