The NGO Movement of Quality of Government in Israel (MQG) petitioned the High Court of Justice for a Contempt of Court Order against Justice Minister Yariv Levin on Wednesday, after the minister, earlier this week, ordered that the locks on the office that Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara usually uses in Tel Aviv be changed.
A Contempt of Court Order is an order issued by the court against an individual who does not follow previous court instructions.
The MQG requested that the court instruct the justice minister to immediately comply with a temporary order issued by Supreme Court Deputy Chief Justice Noam Sohlberg last week.
His order froze the government’s unanimous decision to fire the A-G and blocked the decision from advancing until it can undergo judicial review.
The MQG also petitioned for a Mandatory Order against Levin, which requires a party to actively do something, rather than refrain from doing something else: to switch the locks back.
Last month and again earlier this week, Sohlberg ordered that nothing in Baharav-Miara’s workflow or routine be changed, and that the government not announce a replacement for her. A hearing on the case has been set for September 3.
Earlier on Wednesday, Yesh Atid petitioned the court itself for an interim order to prohibit Levin from “interfering with the workflow and ability of the attorney-general to perform her duties,” following the locks incident.
Levin confirmed the locks had been changed
Levin said, “The locks on the minister’s office in Tel Aviv were indeed changed, but it is the minister’s office and not Baharav-Miara’s. Her attempt to make unauthorized use of the minister’s office is another example of puzzling behavior on the part of someone who has already been removed from her position.”
The A-G’s office and the minister’s office are both located in the Justice Ministry’s headquarters in a government building in Tel Aviv.
Separately, the Israel Bar Association chair, attorney Amit Bachar, appealed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a request to immediately fire Levin for violating the order issued by the High Court.
Bachar called the lock-switching a “grave interference” in Baharav-Miara’s work, as the Tel Aviv office is where she usually sits.
In an interview with 103FM radio, he called the move “aggressive and heavy-handed, beyond being simply childish.”