Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg suggested to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara that she cease her involvement in the petition of former Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman, and in return, the petition filed against her by the Lavi organization regarding her handling of the affairs of former Shin Bet chiefs Ronen Bar and Argaman will be dropped.

The Supreme Court’s proposal was made in the wake of the Lavi organization’s petition, which stated that Baharav-Miara has a severe conflict of interest due to long-standing personal connections with current Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and former Shin Bet chief Argaman and should refrain from dealing with their affairs, including legal proceedings concerning them.

The petition demanded that the Attorney General refrain from any involvement in Argaman’s affairs and delegate her powers concerning him to another legal professional.

After the Attorney General refused to do so and insisted that she does not have a conflict of interest, in an exceptionally rare move, the Supreme Court ordered her to submit a personal affidavit detailing the nature of her connections to the two men.

The Attorney General responded by submitting a notice to the court in which she claimed that there are no connections that constitute a conflict of interest between her and former Shin Bet chiefs Bar and Argaman. The Attorney General attached an affidavit to her notice, which is equivalent to testimony in court.

After submitting her notice to the court, the Lavi organization informed the court that it had evidence contradicting the Attorney General’s affidavit.

In response, Justice Sohlberg proposed a compromise in which the Attorney General will announce that she will cease dealing with Nadav Argaman’s affairs, without admitting to the claims of the petition, and in return, the petition will be dropped.

Attorney Itzchak Bam, who represents the Lavi organization, stated in response, “I welcome the court’s proposal and hope that the Attorney General will embrace it. In my opinion, it should be self-evident—the Attorney General must not deal with the affairs of her close associates, former Shin Bet members. In a proper system, we would not need a petition to the Supreme Court to clarify this.”

It should be noted that in addition to the Attorney-General’s conflict of interest with the former Shin Bet chiefs, last month, two lawmakers sent an official request to State Attorney Amit Aisman demanding an immediate criminal investigation against Baharav-Miara for hiding a romantic relationship, which, according to them, lasted over six years, with state witness in the Netanyahu trial, Jackie Ashel.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)