The Attorney General and the Legal Advisory System

1948–1992: An Appointee Under Unwritten Rules

The Hebrew title of the office, ha-yoetz ha-mishpati la-memshala, means "legal adviser to the government." The office has existed since the state was founded in 1948, but no single statute sets out its powers. Most of its authority comes from provisions in other laws, from government resolutions, and from court rulings. The Civil Service (Appointments) Law of 1959 gives the government the power to set the methods and conditions for appointing the Attorney General [1].

For its first five decades, the appointment rested almost entirely with the government. A 1960 government notice required the justice minister to propose the candidate. The minister could not propose anyone who lacked the qualifications to serve as a Supreme Court justice, and it became customary to consult informally with the President of the Supreme Court [1]. The same notice stated that the post would become vacant on the holder's death, on resignation, or when the government appointed another person in the holder's place. Because the government held the power to appoint, it also held the power to dismiss. Yitzhak Zamir was removed from the post in this way in 1986 [1].

The idea that the office should be independent of the government it serves came first from a public committee rather than from a statute. In 1962 a committee headed by Justice Shimon Agranat described the Attorney General as an independent legal authority whose task was to protect the public interest rather than the political needs of the government of the day [2]. That report set out the model that later governments and courts built on. It left two questions open: how far the government must follow the Attorney General's advice, and how the holder could be protected from removal for giving advice the government did not want. Both questions were answered in the 1990s.

1993–2000: Binding Opinions and the Shamgar Rules

In 1993 the High Court of Justice decided two cases that shaped the office's modern authority. The first concerned Aryeh Deri, a cabinet minister from the Shas party. The second concerned Raphael Pinhasi, a deputy minister. Both faced criminal charges, and the Court reviewed the decisions to keep them in office on the ground of extreme unreasonableness [3]. These rulings belong to a wider line of cases in which the Court examined public appointments for reasonableness [3]. The same period produced the principle that the Attorney General's legal determinations bind the government unless the High Court of Justice rules otherwise. That principle stems from a 1993 ruling, and the Knesset never ratified it in legislation [4]. Its practical effect is that, inside the executive branch, the Attorney General's reading of the law is treated as the law itself until a court decides differently.

In 1997 the government's attempt to appoint Roni Bar-On as Attorney General failed. The episode became known as the Bar-On Hebron affair. In response, Justice Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, serving in a government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, appointed a public commission headed by Meir Shamgar, a former President of the Supreme Court who had himself served as Attorney General from 1968 to 1975 [1]. The commission submitted its report in November 1998 [1]. It recommended a professional search committee, a fixed six-year term, and clear grounds for dismissal [2]. The government adopted new appointment and removal procedures in 2000 and amended them in 2007 [1].

Under the 2000 resolution, a permanent public-professional committee proposes candidates to the government. The committee has five members. A retired Supreme Court justice chairs it and is named by the President of the Supreme Court with the agreement of the justice minister. The government names a former justice minister or former Attorney General. The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chooses a Knesset member. The National Council of the Israel Bar Association chooses a lawyer. The deans of Israel's law faculties choose an academic [1].

The Attorney General serves one term of six years. The government may end the term early, after consulting the committee, only on grounds listed in the resolution. The main ground is substantive and continuing disagreement between the government and the Attorney General that prevents effective cooperation. The others are conduct unbecoming the office, loss of fitness to serve, or a criminal investigation or indictment against the holder [1]. The justice minister must refer the matter to the committee in writing. The committee hears the Attorney General before giving its view, and the Attorney General may also present the case to the government [1]. The Shamgar Commission explained the purpose of these limits. Unlimited power of dismissal, it wrote, could make the Attorney General dependent on the government and less willing to enforce the law when enforcement displeased ministers [1].

2008 to the Present: How the Ministry Legal Advisers Work

The Attorney General heads a wider network of government lawyers. Each ministry has its own legal adviser, who directs a legal department that may employ dozens of lawyers. The adviser's duties can include drafting legislation, giving legal opinions, representing the ministry in civil proceedings, overseeing its contracts, and in some cases starting criminal proceedings [5].

Ministry legal advisers are appointed through a tender, as most Israeli civil servants are. The first stage is an internal tender open to lawyers already employed in government ministries. If no suitable candidate is found, a public tender follows. The tender committee includes the ministry's director general, the deputy Attorney General, the legal adviser of another ministry, and a representative of the Israel Bar Association [5]. The Civil Service Commissioner has the power to dismiss a ministry legal adviser, with the Attorney General taking part through a professional committee appointed for the purpose [5].

An inter-ministerial team, known as the Abramovich Commission, examined legal advice in government ministries and published its report on 10 September 2008. Following that report, a government resolution limited the term of ministry legal advisers to seven years. The limit has not been applied in practice because of problems with the advisers' retirement arrangements [5]. The Abramovich report described the adviser's task as giving the ministry the legal tools to carry out its policy while making sure it acts within the law and the rules of good governance [5].

The advisers hold a dual position. For administrative purposes, each adviser answers to the ministry's director general. For professional purposes, each answers to the Attorney General and must coordinate with that office. An adviser's opinion states the law for the ministry. When ministry leaders disagree with it, they can ask the Attorney General to decide, and the Attorney General's opinion binds the government and its agencies unless a court rules otherwise [5]. Retired justice Yitzhak Zamir described this network as an internal check on the government, with the courts serving as the external check [5].

Above this network, the Attorney General combines three roles. The office is the government's chief legal adviser. It heads the prosecution service, with final power to file indictments, including against ministers and the prime minister. It also represents the government in court, mainly before the High Court of Justice when petitions challenge government policy or legislation [4].

2019–2022: The Prosecution Role and the Prime Minister's Trial

The combination of advice and prosecution in one office became central to Israeli politics in 2019. On 21 November 2019, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be charged in three cases. The charges were fraud and breach of trust in Cases 1000 and 2000, and bribery, fraud and breach of trust in Case 4000. It was the first time in Israel's history that a serving prime minister faced criminal charges [6]. The trial was still under way in June 2026 [7].

Because the prime minister stayed in office while on trial, the Attorney General drew up a conflict-of-interest arrangement. The High Court of Justice addressed it in rulings of 6 May 2020 and 25 March 2021, and the Attorney General set out its terms in a letter to the prime minister dated 2 November 2020 [1]. The arrangement bars the prime minister from involvement in the appointment of senior officials in the government legal advisory system, the Justice Ministry and the police who deal with his case, and from matters concerning their status and duties. It covers action taken through any other official or body [1].

This arrangement ties the Attorney General's two main roles together. The office that advises the government on the legality of its actions also holds final authority over the prime minister's prosecution, including decisions on delays or a plea bargain [1]. Gali Baharav-Miara took office as Attorney General in February 2022, during the government of Naftali Bennett. When Netanyahu returned to power after the November 2022 election, she held both the advisory role toward his government and final authority over his prosecution.

2023–2025: Confrontation and the Attempted Dismissal

The government that took office in December 2022 clashed with the Attorney General from its first weeks, in large part over its plans to change the judiciary [8]. Its coalition agreements proposed that ministry legal advisers be appointed and dismissed by each ministry's director general, who is appointed by the minister, rather than through a Civil Service tender [5]. The government said the Attorney General was repeatedly blocking its policies, appointments and legislation. Baharav-Miara replied that she was marking the legal limits of what the government could do [9].

After the November 2022 election, two seats on the public-professional committee became vacant: the seat for a former justice minister or former Attorney General, and the seat for a Knesset member. The resolution makes the justice minister responsible for starting those appointments, and the seats were not filled [1]. When the government moved to dismiss Baharav-Miara in 2025, it had difficulty completing the committee. On 8 June 2025 it changed the dismissal procedure. Consultation with the public-professional committee became optional. In its place, a ministerial committee would hear the case, and a dismissal made without the public committee would need the votes of at least 75 % of the ministers eligible to vote [1]. Minister Amichai Chikli headed the ministerial committee [10].

Baharav-Miara attended neither the ministerial committee hearing nor the full cabinet session [1]. On 4 August 2025 the cabinet voted unanimously to dismiss her, without the prime minister taking part [1]. The High Court of Justice ordered the same day that the dismissal would not take effect until further notice. It also barred the government from appointing a new Attorney General and from changing its working arrangements with her [9]. On 1 September 2025 the Court unanimously recommended that the government cancel the new procedure and, with it, the dismissal, and asked for the government's answer by 14 September [11].

The government did not accept the recommendation. At the hearing on six petitions, held before an expanded panel of seven justices, no one appeared for the government, and Chief Justice Isaac Amit announced that the Court would rule on the written material alone [10]. On 14 December 2025 the panel unanimously struck down both the June 2025 resolution and the August dismissal. It held that the government had not justified departing from the Shamgar framework, and that the new rules had been adopted after the government had already declared its aim of removing her. The Court ruled that Baharav-Miara "continues to serve in her position" [12].

2026: The Attorney General Law

In 2026 the coalition moved from government resolutions to legislation. On 19 May the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee approved a bill on the office by 9 votes to 0, with the opposition boycotting the vote [4]. On 2 June the Knesset passed the bill in its first reading by 65 votes to 47 [8]. As first drafted, the bill gave criminal prosecution to a new prosecutor general. The attorney general would keep the other legal powers, lead the advisory system, and assist the government in carrying out its policy within the law. The government would be able to decide that a specific opinion was not binding, and it would have final say over the state's position in court [13].

Supporters and opponents described the bill in opposite terms. Supporters argued that the existing model gives too much power to one unelected official, and that the same person should not both advise ministers and oversee criminal cases against them. Committee chair Simcha Rothman said splitting the role was necessary to "return power to the people" [7]. Opponents pointed out that the bill came during the prime minister's trial, and said it could change the structure of the prosecution while that trial continued [7].

On 6 July the Knesset voted 59 to 45 to divide the bill, because the committee lacked time to prepare the full text before the Knesset dissolved. The version that went forward no longer created a separate prosecutor general. Criminal prosecution stayed with the Attorney General, but the clause making the office's legal positions non-binding on the government remained [14]. On 15 July 2026 the Knesset passed the Attorney General's Law (Opinion, Representation and Supervision), 5786-2026, by 65 votes to 51. The law takes effect on 1 January 2027. Under sections 18 and 20, the government must set the methods and conditions for appointing the Attorney General within 30 days of that date [15].

The central change is an override. The government may decide that an opinion of the Attorney General does not reflect the existing law, and so decide for itself whether a given action is lawful. The override does not apply to the Attorney General's decisions in criminal matters as head of the prosecution [16]. Baharav-Miara warned that the law would violate the rule of law [17]. The Knesset dissolved on 17 July 2026, and the general election is set for 27 October 2026 [18]. Until the law takes effect, the existing rules continue to apply. In late September 2026, Baharav-Miara asked the High Court of Justice to freeze a media law that the Knesset had passed by 53 votes to 48 on 16 July, citing flaws in the legislative process and in several of its provisions [19].

In One Paragraph

Israel's Attorney General is a professional civil servant who advises the government, heads the prosecution, and represents the state in court. For decades the government could appoint and remove the holder at will. A 1993 High Court ruling made the office's legal opinions binding on the government unless a court decides otherwise, and a 2000 government resolution, based on the 1998 Shamgar report, created a search committee, a single six-year term, and fixed grounds for dismissal. Ministry legal advisers are chosen by tender and answer to the Attorney General on legal questions. Since 2019 the office has also held final authority over the criminal case against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The government voted to dismiss Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on 4 August 2025, and the High Court voided that decision on 14 December 2025. On 15 July 2026 the Knesset passed, by 65 to 51, a law that allows the government to set aside the Attorney General's non-criminal opinions. It takes effect on 1 January 2027, after the 27 October 2026 election.

Sources

1. Guy Lurie and Amir Fuchs, "Dismissing the Attorney General," Israel Democracy Institute, July 14, 2025,https://en.idi.org.il/articles/58656.
2. "Reforms to Attorney-General Position 'Would Damage Israel's Democracy,'" Jerusalem Post, December 2, 2025,https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-878936.
3. Cardozo Israeli Supreme Court Project, "Constitutional Amendment," Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, accessed September 25, 2026,https://versa.cardozo.yu.edu/topics/constitutional-amendment.
4. "MKs Vote to Advance Bills Splitting and Weakening Role of AG, Making It Harder to Indict PM," Times of Israel, May 19, 2026,https://www.timesofisrael.com/mks-vote-to-advance-bills-splitting-and-weakening-role-of-ag-making-it-harder-to-indict-pm/.
5. Guy Lurie and Daphne Benvenisty, "The Role of Legal Advisors: Explainer," Israel Democracy Institute, April 4, 2023,https://en.idi.org.il/articles/48989.
6. "AG Announces Netanyahu to Stand Trial for Bribery, Fraud and Breach of Trust," Times of Israel, November 21, 2019,https://www.timesofisrael.com/ag-announces-netanyahu-to-stand-trial-for-bribery-fraud-and-breach-of-trust/.
7. "Knesset Passes First Reading of Controversial Bill to Split Attorney-General's Role: Explainer," Jerusalem Post, June 4, 2026,https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-898390.
8. "Legislation to Split and Weaken Role of Attorney General Passes First Knesset Reading," Times of Israel, June 2, 2026,https://www.timesofisrael.com/legislation-to-split-and-weaken-role-of-attorney-general-passes-first-knesset-reading/.
9. "Government Fires Attorney General; High Court Immediately Freezes Her Dismissal," Times of Israel, August 5, 2025,https://www.timesofisrael.com/high-court-freezes-dismissal-of-attorney-general-after-government-votes-to-fire-her/.
10. "High Court Cancels Hearing to Firing Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara," Jerusalem Post, December 1, 2025,https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-876826.
11. "High Court Unanimously Urges Government to Revoke Attorney General's Dismissal," Times of Israel, September 1, 2025,https://www.timesofisrael.com/high-court-unanimously-urges-government-to-revoke-attorney-generals-dismissal/.
12. "High Court of Justice Nullifies Govt's Dismissal of Attorney-General, Baharav-Miara to Remain," Jerusalem Post, December 14, 2025,https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-880258.
13. "Knesset Backs First Reading of Controversial Attorney General Bill That Would Split the Role," Ynetnews, June 2, 2026,https://www.ynetnews.com/article/ryjpxz3xfx.
14. "Knesset Votes to Split Controversial Bill to Erode Power of Attorney General," Times of Israel, liveblog, July 7, 2026,https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/knesset-votes-to-split-controversial-bill-to-erode-power-of-attorney-general/.
15. Ruth Levush, "Israel: Knesset Adopts Legislation Changing Attorney General's Status," Global Legal Monitor, Law Library of Congress, August 21, 2026,https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2026-08-21/israel-knesset-adopts-legislation-changing-attorney-generals-status.
16. "Knesset Committee Approves Bill Gutting Powers of Attorney General for Final Readings," Times of Israel, liveblog, July 12, 2026,https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/knesset-committee-approves-bill-gutting-powers-of-attorney-general-for-final-readings/.
17. "Bill to Gut Attorney General's Powers Approved by Knesset Committee for Final Readings," Times of Israel, July 12, 2026,https://www.timesofisrael.com/knesset-committee-approves-bill-to-gut-attorney-generals-powers-for-final-readings/.
18. "Knesset Officially Disperses, After Coalition Completes Its Drastic Legislative Blitz," Times of Israel, July 17, 2026,https://www.timesofisrael.com/knesset-votes-on-official-dispersal-of-parliament-wrapping-up-final-legislative-blitz/.
19. "Attorney General Asks Court to Freeze Karhi's Media Law, Citing Serious Legal Flaws," Times of Israel, September 25, 2026,https://www.timesofisrael.com/attorney-general-asks-court-to-freeze-karhis-media-law-citing-serious-legal-flaws.