Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked on Saturday night discussed her dispute with Deputy Attorney General Dina Zilber.
Last week, Shaked demanded that Attorney General Avichai Mandeblit remove Zilber from representing the government in the Knesset. Her demand came after Zilber spoke out against government bills promoted by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Culture and Sport, including the Cultural Loyalty Law.
"I think that the institution of the Attorney General must be clean and professional - once it becomes political, it cuts off the branch on which it is sitting. A public official cannot go to the Knesset and speak out against the government - I will not allow the institution of the Attorney General to become political – bringing politics into this institution will destroy it,” the justice minister said in an interview on Channel 13.
Shaked made clear that there must be trust between government ministers and legal advisers. "The moment an attorney comes out publicly against the government, he cannot work and represent it," she stressed.
"I am relying on Dr. Avichai Mandelblit not to allow this to happen under his watch. The Attorney General has six deputies, all of them working professionally."
This past week, Jewish Home chairman and Education Minister Naftali Bennett made clear that he would not accept a situation allowing Zilber to continue to serve.
"I declare that if Zilber isn't fired, as long as she arrives at government meetings we will leave and not participate in the meeting while she is there," Bennett said in an interview with Reshet Bet radio.
"Her role is to provide legal advice, not to educate us. She suffers from megalomania and it's clear that her words are political. Let her resign and run for politics if she wants to. She's done advising us," he added.
In Saturday’s interview, Shaked was also asked about the police's recommendations for indictments in “Case 3000”, also known as the submarine affair, against associates of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
"The State Prosecutor's Office announced that the political echelon is not involved in this affair. From my long acquaintance with the prime minister, he does not make decisions based out on outside factors. He will not be influenced by extraneous reasons when making decisions on security-related issues.”