Netanyahu
NetanyahuReuters

Attorney Dr. Haim Misgav, a senior lecturer in criminal law at the Netanya Academic College, told Arutz Sheva on Wednesday that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s threatening to fire ministers over a vote in favor of the Regulation Law was unconstitutional.

“It was not right, it did not make sense, it was unconstitutional and improper in a democratic government and a free country,” said Misgav.

“The Prime Minister can appoint or dismiss a minister, but to come and say to a minister that if he votes according to his conscience he will be fired is taking it a step too far,” he added. “Every person has his own opinions and if a minister believes that he is not prepared to follow the Prime Minister on a particular issue, that’s his right. To shut their mouths with a threat of this kind is really not right. It may be legal but it’s not right.”

Misgav said that he is convinced that if all the ministers had supported the law they would not have been fired, saying, “It's very serious that ministers change their minds because of the threat of dismissal. A person should be loyal to his views and be willing to pay a certain price. I also do not see the Prime Minister having been able to fire ten ministers. If they had stood their ground, he would have been forced to swallow his pride.”

He noted that Netanyahu’s actions remind him of the actions of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who fired ministers who were opposed to the disengagement from Gaza.

“He's going in the way of Ariel Sharon, who today everyone knows went in roundabout ways, and led to the expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif just to save himself from being indicted,” said Misgav, who pointed out that threatening a minister with dismissal is an act of extortion in every sense of the word.

“I think that if I were to run into a person who threatened this way, I would define it as extortion,” he said. “It’s like a man entering a store and threatening: ‘Either you pay me or I’ll do this and that.’ And that's why I say that, despite my sympathy for the Prime Minister, I do not like what was done here.”