Supreme Court Justices Yitzhak Amit, Yosef Elron, and Yael Vilner rejected the petitions of the Movement for Quality Government and journalist Uri Misgav this morning regarding meetings between Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Attorney General.
The request sought to instruct the Attorney General to refrain from holding meetings in private with the Prime Minister as long as criminal investigations are being conducted against Netanyahu, given that the Attorney General is the head of the general prosecution and has sole authority to decide on the indictment of a prime minister.
The judges determined the Attorney General should be trusted and his ability to maintain a "Chinese Wall" between his various roles, as a consultant to the government on the one hand and as head of the general prosecution on the other.
The judges also noted that the issue of the dual roles of the Attorney General has already been discussed by the Supreme Court a number of times recently on the background of the Prime Minister's investigations, and in all cases it has been determined this does not constitute an obstacle.
"Even if such meetings are liable to arouse a sense of discomfort in terms of public trust, it's appropriate to trust the Attorney General's discretion where he finds the needs of the position necessitate a private conversation with the Prime Minister," the judges ruled.
According to them, "there is a presumption that the Attorney General - a presumption stemming from both his high position and the integrity of the administration - maintains that in these meetings he maintains a 'Chinese Wall' between his various hats, and he shouldn't, Heaven forfend, be accused of 'mixing affairs'."
