Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sharply attacked Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on Sunday following her opposition to the appointment of Roman Gofman.
Smotrich described her move as yet another instance of standing against the government and the Prime Minister, arguing that the appointment in question falls under the Prime Minister’s exclusive authority.
According to Smotrich, this is “one step too far" by a system that is causing enormous damage to the State of Israel, calling it “a corrupt system that has hijacked the State of Israel and is causing it enormous harm."
He added that an attorney general who repeatedly aligns herself with the opposition and petitioners against the government is incapable of properly representing the elected government.
“An attorney general who always joins forces with the opposition and petitioners against the government, who time after time acts to thwart government policy, must resign and allow the government to receive at least minimal legal counsel and protection, as is customary in every normal country and in every normal relationship between a government and its attorney general," Smotrich said.
He also attacked the judges of Israel’s High Court of Justice, claiming they are forcing the government to keep Baharav-Miara in office contrary to both the law and common sense.
“Gali Baharav-Miara has long seen herself as an inseparable part of the opposition to the government, and the fact that the High Court judges are forcing the government to continue her tenure - in complete contradiction to the law and to common sense - and enabling her to continue sabotaging the government’s work and harming the State of Israel and its citizens, is terrible corruption by the court and by the person heading it," he said.
Smotrich described the situation as “cooperation between two corrupt bodies that violently impose their position on the elected government and on the majority of the people of Israel, with zero responsibility for the consequences."
“One hundred percent authority and zero percent responsibility," Smotrich added in his criticism of the judicial system and the court leading it.
At the end of his remarks, Smotrich declared that the coalition intends to advance structural reforms to the judicial system in the near future.
“We are determined to continue leading the critically important corrections in the judicial system, with an emphasis on completing legislation to split the role of the attorney general and define the office’s responsibilities and powers. You corrupt people have become intolerable!"