Israel Police Commissioner Insp.-Gen. Danny Levi's decision to remove police legal advise Dep.-Ch. Elazar Kahana from his position was done in a speedy, unexplained, and potentially illegal procedure and was therefore frozen, Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara wrote in a letter to Levi on Tuesday.
According to Baharav-Miara, Levi announced the decision within the police on Tuesday evening despite agreeing just hours earlier to hold off on the move until holding an organized meeting with her on the matter.
According to Baharv-Miara, the decision to remove Kahana from his decision was made against Kahana's wishes and without conferring first with the attorney-general, who is the professional authority for all legal advisers in public systems, including the police.
This amounted to a de-facto unexplained firing of Kahana, a "senior, respected, and experienced officer serving in an important and especially sensitive position," the AG wrote.
"The police legal adviser is the inner organizational gatekeeper and responsible for treating the legal aspects of the police's work, including systemic, significant, and sensitive aspects, such as the ongoing protests across the country, and the subject of ethicality and appointments in the police," Baharav-Miara wrote.
"For this reason, in order to ensure the professional independence of the legal advisers and their ability to fulfill their roles as gatekeepers, the appointment or removal of legal advisors in organizations including the police, are done while conferring with the attorney general, to whom they are subject professionally. Such a move of de-facto firing a legal adviser, in an expedited process as described, and without the involvement of the attorney-general, is unprecedented," Baharav-Miara wrote.
She concluded that the "factual state" of Kahana's status should not be changed until the legality of the matter is determined, and therefore Levi should not take the next step which is to apply for the national security minister to approve the move.
Following this, Levi said to Baharav-Miara that he was "not aware of any obligation to consult with [her] on the matter," Israeli media reported on Wednesday.
Itamar Ben-Gvir
Levi was appointed to the position earlier this year by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has repeatedly clashed with Baharav-Miara over moves that she deemed illegal, including the promotion of a police officer under investigation for the illegal use of stun grenades against protestors.
Kahana sided with the attorney-general in that episode and wrote that the officer, Meir Suissa, could not be promoted. Kahana also opined that police officers did not have the authority to confiscate signs at protests, no matter how provocative their content.