PM calls petitions for Ben Gvir’s ouster ‘unconstitutional,’ as minister prays on Temple Mt. |
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on justices to reject what he called an “unconstitutional attempt to dismiss a minister” in a High Court filing Sunday, addressing petitions for the ouster of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
A nine-justice panel is scheduled to hear the petitions on Wednesday, after a hearing on the matter was postponed due to the outbreak of war with Iran.
“Accepting the petitions would indicate that the court is, in practice, assigning itself an active and significant role in the political arena without any legal authority,” read the premier’s 129-page court filing.
The petitioners have urged the court to order Netanyahu to fire Ben Gvir over what they characterize as the minister’s unlawful interference in police investigations, promotions and the policing of protests — claiming his behavior undermines the independence of law enforcement.
The petitions won the backing of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara last year. She had previously reached a legally binding agreement with Ben Gvir meant to curb his influence over police’s operational decision making, but it fell through after he consistently violated its terms, prompting her to support his dismissal.
Netanyahu asserted that the petitions are ideologically motivated and should be “rejected out of hand” due to the “absence of any legal reason for irregular and drastic interference in the constitutional act of the highest order” — the formation of a government by the ruling coalition.
The High Court “has no constitutional right to dismiss a government minister due to the substance of his role, the way he acts within his ministry and in the name of his administrative decisions,” he wrote, urging justices to reject the petitions in order to avoid “serious damage to the separation of powers.”
Ben Gvir’s term as national security minister has been riddled with scandals over his attempts to reshape law enforcement, as critics voice concern that the ultranationalist politician has unduly interfered in officers’ operational decision-making.
The minister often stages public appearances alongside police while touting his political agenda, leading critics to claim that he is using the force as a campaigning tool. His tendency to offer immediate support, sometimes promotions, to officers implicated in potentially criminal acts has sparked worry that such backing could erode police restraint.
Recently, the High Court ordered police to halt the operations of the fledgling incitement department founded by Ben Gvir, after its chief was accused of monitoring the social media activity of individuals who weren’t criminal suspects.
Last month, the Jerusalem District Court forced the promotion of a police investigator Chief Superintendent Rinat Saban, who testified against Netanyahu in his graft trial, after the judge deemed Ben Gvir was motivated by “extraneous considerations” in stonewalling her advancement, which was supported by all of police’s senior brass.
Netanyahu’s lengthy filing, while not entirely ruling out potential interference by Ben Gvir, said such claims should be dealt with in a court for administrative matters rather than the High Court of Justice.
The premier also expressed support for the minister’s influence over police’s handling of protests, as well as law enforcement’s relaxed restrictions when it comes to Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount.
Contradicting claims that Ben Gvir’s policy-setting in regards to the Temple Mount goes against government policy, the filing stated that such changes have been coordinated with Netanyhu himself. It further argued that they do not violate the status quo — a series of informal agreements between Israel and Jordan, which administers the site.
‘Master’ of the Temple Mount
As the prime minister submitted his response to the court, Ben Gvir was filmed singing at the Temple Mount with a group, with his arms outstretched near the bottom of steps leading to the Dome of the Rock.
Speaking to a rabbi, Ben Gvir said he felt like the “master” of the Temple Mount, as he vowed to keep pushing Netanyahu to expand Jewish access there.
“Today you feel like the master of the house here,” the far-right leader said, alongside Rabbi Elisha Wolfson of the Temple Mount Yeshiva, which encourages Jews to ascend and pray at the site.
“I keep pressing the prime minister to do more and more and more things. We must go even further, higher and higher,” Ben Gvir said.
“What a complete transformation,” he added, noting that when he first visited the Temple Mount as a teenager, “they wouldn’t stop shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ and surrounding us,” referring to Palestinian worshipers, and that “if a Jew even murmured something, he was arrested.”
The Jordanian Foreign Ministry condemned Ben Gvir’s visit, calling it a “flagrant violation of the prevailing historical and legal status quo at Jerusalem’s Noble Sanctuary [Al Aqsa Mosque complex atop the Temple Mount], a desecration of its sanctity, a reprehensible escalation and unacceptable provocation.”
Ben Gvir has long called for Jewish prayer rights at the site and his previous visits have drawn sharp condemnation across the Arab world, but Netanyahu has still insisted that the status quo with the Jordanian Waqf remains unchanged.
The Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City is the holiest place in Judaism, as the site of the two Biblical temples. It is currently home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam.
Ariela Karmel contributed to this report.
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High Court of Justice