Justice called the Israeli Prime Minister to order on Friday March 24, deeming “
illegal
” his public intervention the day before on the project to reform the judicial system which divides the country, given his ongoing trials for corruption.
“
Your statement yesterday and any intervention on your part in [the] process [of adopting the reform] is illegal
,” wrote government legal adviser Gali Baharav-Miara in a letter to Binyamin Netanyahu and published by the Ministry of Justice.
Coming "on stage"
Binyamin Netanyahu pledged Thursday evening to "
end the division among the people
" after nearly three months of massive protests against the justice reform bill currently under consideration in Parliament.
Binyamin Netanyahu, who had so far remained in the background on this issue, announced that he was "entering
the scene
" and that he was determined to advance the reform, but that he would do everything to "
reach a solution
" acceptable both to the defenders of the project and to its detractors.
"
You must avoid any involvement in changes in the judicial system and in particular in the process of appointing judges because this places you in a situation of conflict of interest
", writes Gali Baharav-Miara.
Thursday evening, Benyamin Netanyahu announced that the bill modifying the composition of the commission for the appointment of judges would be submitted to the vote of the deputies for adoption in plenary session “next week
”
.
This is one of the central elements of the reform, at the heart of the concerns of its detractors.
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Caution
The text was amended in committee to soften the content with a view to achieving a broader vote, but without the support of the opposition, which turned a deaf ear to the call for dialogue launched Thursday evening by the leader of the government, continuing to demand "
a pause
" in the legislative work on the reform before any negotiation with the majority.
The legal adviser to the government in Israel, appointed for six years, is at the head of the judicial system, and in particular gives his instructions to the State prosecutor.
In May 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that an indicted prime minister had no right to act in an area that could place him in a conflict of interest.
The press release from the ministry recalls that Gali Baharav-Miara had already written to Binyamin Netanyahu in February to warn him, on the basis of this judgment, against any involvement in the process of reforming the judicial system.
