Justice Minister Yariv Levin on Sunday accused Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Supreme Court President Esther Hayut of assisting an attempted "coup" against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in response to a petition demanding that the court declare Netanyahu unfit to serve as prime minister.
“An attempt to oust a prime minister against the law, while trampling on democratic choice, is no different from a putsch carried out with tanks,” Levin said in a statement. “The intention is the same intention, and the result is the same result. We will not allow this attempted coup, which illustrates how badly the judicial system needs my reform — a reform that will restore democracy and the checks and balances between the branches of government."
“This is a group of lawyers who do not respect the results of the election and are now working to carry out a coup and declare Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unfit,” he added. “It is no wonder that the partners to this move are the same ones who are leading the opposition to the legal reform: the left-wing organization known as the Movement for Quality Government, the attorney general and the Supreme Court president.”
Last month, the Supreme Court rejected another petition to declare Netanyahu unfit to serve as prime minister, on the grounds that he had violated a conflict of interest agreement he signed.
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel has filled a new petition, arguing that Netanyahu's conflicts of interests.
Movement CEO Dr. Eliad Shraga said in a statement.“Netanyahu has proven that he is unable to separate his legal affairs from the administration of the state, and is trying to collapse the democratic structure of the State of Israel even at the cost of the destruction of the Third Temple.”
Attorney General Baharav-Miara sent a letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu on February 2, ordering him not to involve himself in any way in his government's proposed legal reforms due to "conflict of interest" resulting from his own criminal trials, which are still in process.