Chair of the Movement: “These high numbers prove that the Israeli public understands the seriousness of the harm to democracy and is determined to fight for the rule of law”
The Movement for Quality of Government in Israel reports that over 10,000 citizens have joined as petitioners its petition against the government decision to change the mechanism for dismissing the attorney general, ahead of the government meeting expected to be held today at noon to dismiss her.
This is an unprecedented number of petitioners in a single petition to the High Court, indicating the widespread public mobilization against the move that the Movement defines as “the complete politicization of the role of the attorney general.” The petition charges that there are extreme flaws in the process of changing the mechanism, including a clear conflict of interest of the prime minister, who is accused of crimes, and extraneous considerations.
The Movement emphasizes that the government chose to ignore Justice Sohlberg’s clear hint to return to the previous mechanism, and even admitted in its response to the court that it changed the dismissal mechanism because it was unable to fire the attorney general through the existing legal process. This is conclusive proof that this is a move of “drawinf the target around the arrow” and not a genuine change in the mechanism.
The public campaign also included the “You’ll Never Walk Alone!” campaign, which combined extensive bus signage across the country and a demonstration of support yesterday at Kikar Hamedina in front of the attorney general’s house, in which thousands of citizens participated and with the participation of former Supreme Court Justice Ayala Procaccia, the Movement’s president.
Chair of the Movement for Quality of Government, Adv. Dr. Eliad Shraga: “The high number of petitioners indicates that the Israeli public understands exactly what is happening here. This is not a genuine change in the mechanism, this is a personal move to destroy the independence of the attorney general. When over 10,000 citizens are willing to sign a power of attorney and become petitioners, it means that Israeli democracy is still alive and breathing and will not easily succumb to attempts to destroy the rule of law and democracy.”
