Merav Michaeli
Merav MichaeliMiriam Alster/Flash 90

MK Merav Michaeli (Zionist Union) on Tuesday blasted Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked in the wake of Shaked’s letter to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, in which she announced that she would be removing Deputy Attorney General Dina Zilber from representing the government in the Knesset.

Shaked’s ire was raised by Zilber's appearances on Monday and Tuesday in Knesset committees, during which she objected to government bills promoted by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Culture and Sport, including the Cultural Loyalty Law being promoted by Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev.

"Zilber warns against harming democracy and Shaked proves that she is right," Michaeli said.

"It's amazing: A senior legal adviser, a faithful public servant, wants to maintain the rule of law. Shaked can no longer tolerate this speech, loses her temper and simply gets rid of her," she added.

Michaeli charged that "Shaked wants loyalty to the Jewish Home, not to the State of Israel. Shaked no longer needs the legal advisers’ law. As far as she is concerned, she is the law."

"A justice minister is supposed to protect the judicial system, to back up the Attorney General who is observing the law. Instead, Shaked is trampling this system, including the Attorney General," she continued.

"She destroys our justice and legal systems and endangers the individual freedom of every person in Israel. Motti Yogev said D9, Shaked is the driver," Michaeli said, in a reference to MK Yogev's statement from 2015 in which he asserted that a D9 bulldozer should be used against the Supreme Court.

Responding to Michaeli, Yogev tweeted, "I am very proud and very appreciative of Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked's efforts to balance the judicial system and restore the State of Israel from a judicial dictatorship to a Jewish and democratic state.”

MK Stav Shafir said in response to Shaked's demand regarding Zilber, “A disturbed response by Shaked against Zilber. She did not speak like that about corrupt members of her party. Why Zilber? Because she is one of the few remaining gatekeepers, she dares to do her job and maintain the public interest in the face of the terror that the extreme right imposes on the government. She fights corruption at a personal risk. Shaked and Bennett are afraid of honest civil servants more than anything else."