Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a strongly worded letter on Monday to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara amid the disagreement regarding the dismissal of ISA Director Ronen Bar.
Netanyahu even brought the cabinet meeting to discuss the dismissal forward from Wednesday to Tuesday.
He claimed that judicial intervention in the matter violates the government's authority to make security decisions. In his letter, Netanyahu notes that the dismissal of the ISA Director is under the sole authority of the government per the Israel Security Agency Law.
"This is a security decision of the utmost degree, in peace, and even more so, during an emergency and due to urgent security challenges," Netanyahu wrote to the Attorney General. "Your attempt to take control of the government's security considerations during a war under the guise of legal advice is a dangerous denial of the government's authority."
Netanyahu targeted Baharav-Miara's claims of a conflict of interest, and accused her of "abusing her authority." According to him, "Your hints at illegalities and a conflict of interest are the total opposite of justice. Your instruction to regularly open investigations into the Prime Minister's staff, whose purpose even the Police do not understand, is an abuse of your authority and an invalid practice that has become a method and its goal is to deprive authority from the elected echelon."
The Prime Minister also claimed that "your claim that the position of ISA Director is not 'a personal position of allegiance under the Prime Minister' is a manipulation. The Prime Minister and government did not demand personal allegiance. The legislature decided that the agency is under the government's authority and that the Prime Minister is in charge of the director. Hence, to fulfill their roles, the government and Prime Minister must trust the agency director and his abilities to successfully lead the agency in the face of urgent challenges. That is the trust that was violated."
In his letter, Netanyahu stressed that the government would soon discuss the issue, and noted that the Attorney General could participate in the discussion and express her legal stance. "In the next meeting, the cabinet will discuss, among other things, the dismissal of the ISA Director amid the loss of confidence on the part of the Prime Minister and many of the cabinet members. You will be invited to this meeting. You can listen in detail to the reasons for the proposal and express your legal stance before the cabinet decides on the matter."
