Israeli attorney general confirms PM's right to dismiss defence minister

Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has confirmed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has the legal authority to dismiss the defence minister, even if the decision is politically motivated.

In a letter to Israel's High Court, Baharav-Miara urged the court to reject lawsuits filed by human rights activists challenging Netanyahu's move, Caliber.Az reports per Israeli media.

Baharav-Miara emphasized that in the current security situation, it is crucial for the prime minister to have the ability to quickly appoint a new, permanent defence minister. She stated that there is no reason to delay the implementation of Netanyahu's decision to remove Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

Thus, she called for the immediate dismissal of all lawsuits against the decision.

When Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, after months of public disagreements, he ousted the US’ most trusted interlocutor in Israel’s war cabinet and the only person among that leadership cadre willing to stand up to him on the security failures of October 7 and the way the wars in Gaza and Lebanon are being waged.

Yair Lapid, the head of Israel’s main opposition party, called the move an “act of madness”, adding: “Netanyahu is selling out Israel’s security and the IDF’s fighters for [his own] disgraceful political survival”.

So why now? First, on election night, the Biden administration had other things to worry about.

But there were also domestic pressures: in his role as defence minister, Gallant’s insistence on drafting ultra-Orthodox youth into the army risked jeopardising the support of Netanyahu’s far right religious ministers who are key to maintaining his coalition.

And crucially, even the US election wasn’t enough to drown out the noise of two major scandals encircling the prime minister this week:

First, Israel’s army, police, and internal security service (the

Shin Bet) are investigating major intelligence leaks involving a close Netanyahu aide, which critics claim was intended to scupper a hostage deal.

Second, Israel’s attorney general and police are separately investigating the apparent falsification, by an official close to Netanyahu, of formal minutes taken during cabinet meetings in the early weeks of the war.

So five minutes before the Israeli evening news began, Gallant was out – and that quickly became the top story.

By Vafa Guliyeva