Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must explain why he won’t fire National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, the High Court of Justice decided, issuing a conditional order on the case on Wednesday.
The order was issued primarily because the court had not received any attention to the matter by Netanyahu himself – as the figure who is ultimately and originally in charge of the appointment.
Ben-Gvir responded that the High Court “has no authority. There will be no coup.”
The panel that will hear the case on March 24 has been expanded to nine due to its gravity: Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, Deputy President Noam Sohlberg, and Justices Dafna Barak-Eraez, Yael Willner, Ofer Grosskopf, Alex Stein, Gila Kanfi-Steinitz, Khaled Kabub and Yechiel Kasher.
Ben-Gvir accused of violating police conduct agreements
At the heart of the matter are claims that Ben-Gvir violated a series of agreements laid out between him and Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara on the limits of his involvement in police conduct.
Such agreements are not uncommon for the role, and are made to ensure that the largest enforcement authority in the state does not bend to the political calculations of one minister or another. This framework affects matters such as promotions and, as an example in Ben-Gvir’s case, demonstration protocols.
The court gave the state until February 24 – a month before the hearing – to submit a response, with affidavits to be submitted by the prime minister and national security minister by March 10. All other sides will have until March 19 to file any additional materials.
MK Gilad Kariv (The Democrats) responded that the High Court justices were right in their decision to “compel Netanyahu to address Ben Gvir’s ongoing violation of the law and the complete trampling of the police’s independence and its stately, nonpartisan character.”
“Ben-Gvir is endangering Israel and its security, and this cannot be ignored. By refusing to dismiss him, Netanyahu is effectively handing the state over to extremist forces that continue to harm it,” the Ima Era (“Awake Mother” in Hebrew) protest group said.
Ima Era, one of the petitioners, added that it would continue to fight “for the future of Israel and the welfare of our children – who are fighting to defend the state and are sent to the front lines – while extremist figures in the government place them in danger, using them as political tools and sacrificing them to their own recklessness.”
“Every day that Ben-Gvir remains in his post as national security minister, and continues to sit in the cabinet that determines the state’s security and that of its soldiers, puts us all in danger,” the group said.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin responded by saying that “the pyromaniacs at the High Court of Justice have for a long time been behaving as though they belong to the executive and legislative branches of government; now, they are proposing to assume the role of the people themselves,” accusing the judges of overriding the public will that elected Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Levin said the judges were acting “without even a shred of authority and in complete contradiction to the most basic principles of democracy. By their own hands, they are leading us toward an unprecedented constitutional crisis.”
He added that “everyone must rally behind the prime minister and say, ‘Enough.’ The only person authorized to appoint or dismiss a minister is Benjamin Netanyahu.”
Former Supreme Court president Dorit Beinisch told KAN Reshet Bet that the responses issued by Levin and Ben-Gvir amount to “a call to chaos” and constitute “wild incitement against the judges,” warning that Israel is taking its first steps toward dictatorship.
“The sheer insolence and nonsense coming from these people reflects absolute contempt for all state institutions,” Beinisch said. “There are no boundaries here. This is incitement of the public not to uphold the law. It is part of a plan to dismantle all governing institutions that have existed since the founding of the state, leaving the government in control without oversight by the Knesset or the courts.”