The prime minister and his government's top jurist denied each other's authority amid an escalating political fight during wartime.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the country’s attorney general on Monday that she lacks authority to prevent his government from firing the head of Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet).
The statement came in reply to a letter from Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on Sunday in which she wrote that he could not fire Shin Bet head Ronen Bar “until the factual and legal basis” underlying the dismissal and Netanyahu’s “authority to address the matter at this time” were fully examined.
The clash is the latest in a series of conflicts between Israeli elected officials and bureaucrats since 2023, when Netanyahu led his Likud party to victory in a general election amid an ongoing corruption trial.