A dramatic development in the investigation of the Sdei Teiman leak affair occurred on Thursday afternoon when the Justice Ministry’s Legal Adviser, Yael Kotik, signed a legal opinion barring Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara from heading the investigation into the leak of the Sdei Teiman video by disgraced Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi.

Kotik stated that Baharav-Miara has a conflict of interest regarding the investigation and must refrain from dealing with the matter. She also stated that it cannot be ruled out that Baharav-Miara herself may need to be questioned in the case.

Kotik’s opinion carries significant legal and political weight and provides strong support to the petitions against Baharav-Miara in the Supreme Court and to Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who previously barred her from the case and appointed a retired judge to oversee the probe.

“This position does not cast aspersions or take a stance regarding the Attorney General’s involvement in the matter; its sole purpose is to ensure the independence of the investigation,” Kotik wrote.

“There is a real concern of a conflict of interest,” she added.

Baharav-Miara had refused to heed the order of Justice Minister Yariv Levin to remove herself from the case, laying the ground for a battle on the matter in the Supreme Court.

Kotik’s position is not legally binding, but it is an exceptional development and is expected to influence the Supreme Court’s decision. The decision places Baharav-Miara at the center of a particularly sensitive public storm.

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court ordered Baharav-Miara to submit a preliminary response to petitions against her on the matter by noon today. However, after the deadline had already passed, she filed a request to extend it until 10 p.m.

Likud MK Avichai Buaron and the Lavi organization, who submitted a petition against Baharav-Miara, said, “Despite Judge Noam Solberg’s decision giving the Attorney General 36 hours (a lot of time in which many things can be done…), she decided to ask the court for an extension to file her response until 10 p.m. For years, she has ignored the government and the Knesset, and now she humiliates the Supreme Court after filing a false notice and a deceitful affidavit.”

“Gali Baharav-Miara is making a mockery of all of us—of every citizen of Israel. In a normal world, she should have disqualified herself from the investigation, given her severe conflict of interest. She cannot investigate a probe in which she herself may be investigated. We are left with one simple question for Gali: What are you hiding? Are you also part of the military prosecution’s bond of silence?”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)