Israel’s attorney-general has told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he must not be involved in an overhaul to the country’s judicial system proposed by his government, saying in a letter made public Thursday that he risks a conflict of interest in his ongoing trial.

“You must avoid as part of your role as prime minister involvement in initiatives related to the legal system,” Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara wrote to Netanyahu in the letter, which was sent Wednesday. She said that meant Netanyahu could also not direct others to advance the plan.

The letter included an opinion by Baharav-Miara’s deputy, saying the overhaul would “benefit the prime minister in terms of the administration of his trial.” It said the changes would allow the governing coalition to more easily advance legislation that could assist Netanyahu.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin responded to the order by stating: “It turns out that ‘conflict of interest’ is a strange thing. An elected official is not allowed to talk about legal reform but the legal advisor and her staff are allowed to act to thwart the reform that directly concerns their powers.”

Coalition chairman Likud MK Ophir Katz said that the letter is “absolutely absurd, aside from being an attempt to silence people. Prime Minister Netanyahu went to elections with all these issues presented to the general public, including judicial reform, and we received a clear mandate from the public to implement these reforms.”

“If we take the attorney general’s words to their logical conclusion, every single judge and legal adviser would also be barred from commenting or intervening on the reforms due to their conflict of interest. This incident is just one more piece of evidence showing how desperately we need these reforms in order to restore our democracy to where it should be.”

“It’s a crazy legal situation in which the attorney-general who is in a conflict of interest is allowed to issue an opinion and speak about the issues on the agenda, while the prime minister is banned from being involved,” wrote Kol B’Ramah reporter Yisrael Cohen. “This is exactly why judicial reform is needed!”

Amir Fuchs, a senior researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank, said Baharav-Miara’s position won’t affect the plan’s progress. He said the attorney general’s position is binding, meaning Netanyahu won’t be able to deal with the legal changes, and neither will any of his political appointees on his behalf. But ministers in his government should be able to, he said.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem & AP)