Ben Gvir tells Netanyahu Attorney General Baharav-Miara must be fired for coalition support

JERUSALEM — Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has set the removal of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara as a condition for his far-right Otzma Yehudit party to join the next government, according to a written message he sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In the letter, Ben Gvir demanded that Baharav-Miara be dismissed as soon as a new government is formed, arguing that he had previously pushed for her removal at the start of the current administration on national interest grounds. Ben Gvir said Netanyahu responded by telling him he was a young minister and that such matters do not work that way. The letter further claimed that since that exchange, the Attorney General's office has blocked government appointment decisions and backed a Supreme Court petition seeking Ben Gvir's removal from his ministerial post. In its closing section, Otzma Yehudit said it would demand that Baharav-Miara's replacement be an attorney general who "does not defy the elected will and will help implement the government's policies." The party stated that it would not join the next government if the condition is not met. No immediate response from the Prime Minister's Office was reported.