Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s continued intervention in police operations may no longer be legally defensible before the High Court of Justice, ahead of a petition set to be heard in the coming days.
In a letter to Netanyahu, Baharav-Miara wrote that Ben-Gvir has engaged in a pattern of improper interference in professional police work, in violation of commitments he made to the High Court, to the prime minister and to the legal adviser’s office. She said his conduct presents him as acting like a “super-commissioner.”
“The minister is intervening in the police’s work in an unlawful and systematic manner, and the foundations on which the court approved his appointment have been undermined,” she wrote. “The prime minister must address the issue.”
Baharav-Miara said Ben-Gvir has repeatedly violated the law, court rulings and the principles document he explicitly agreed to upon taking office. She described “substantive and recurring breaches” across multiple areas that undermine the legal guarantees intended to preserve police independence.
She cited examples involving protests, saying Ben-Gvir issued instructions that contradict freedom of expression and assembly and risk signaling to officers what he expects from them, indirectly influencing police conduct on the ground.
On criminal investigations, Baharav-Miara wrote that Ben-Gvir has violated restrictions concerning probes involving police officers as well as civilians and public officials.
She referenced several incidents, including Ben-Gvir’s public praise of Cmdr. Amit Polak of the Hadera police station, a day after Polak was indicted for assaulting a protester and obstructing justice. “As far as I’m concerned, he will remain an officer in the Israel Police,” Ben-Gvir said at the time. This week, he signed Polak’s promotion and called him “an excellent officer” who had been targeted by “anarchists.”
Baharav-Miara also noted what she called an improper use of the minister’s appointment authority in the case of Rinat Saban. Ben-Gvir initially approved the police commissioner’s recommendation to promote her to the rank of deputy commander but later withheld his signature, she wrote, due to her role and testimony in the “Case 4000” trial and in another criminal case involving Netanyahu associates.
According to Baharav-Miara, the decision was unlawful and taken against the view of the police commissioner and professional staff. She warned the move sends a “chilling and deterrent” message to police investigators involved in cases linked to ministers or their associates.
Because the matter concerns Netanyahu personally, she wrote, a fuller response will be submitted to the court as part of the state’s formal position in the petitions.