Justice minister has locks changed on AG’s office without warning, prompting outcry

Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s driver changed the locks on Levin’s shared office with Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on Tuesday without warning, appearing to disobey a court order prohibiting Levin from interfering with Baharav-Miara’s duties.

The switch was Levin’s latest attempt to kick Baharav-Miara out of the workings of the government. Last week, the cabinet voted to fire her after forming a special committee for that purpose. The High Court froze that decision immediately, instructing the government not to block Baharav-Miara from performing her responsibilities in any way.

Levin, who has frequently clashed with Baharav-Miara, has nonetheless objected to her doing her job. After the vote to fire her, Levin’s driver called Baharav-Miara’s staff and instructed them not to use the office that Baharav-Miara and Levin share in Tel Aviv, according to Zman Yisrael, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site.

After the attorney general refused that order, the driver changed the locks on the office at Levin’s behest. As a result, Baharav-Miara’s staff was unable to enter.

Levin confirmed in a statement that the locks were changed, declining to refer to Baharav-Miara by her title.

“The locks in the minister’s office were indeed changed,” the statement said. “The office is the office of the minister, not of the attorney Baharav-Miara. Her attempt to use the minister’s office without authorization is another example of astonishing conduct from someone who was already removed from her position.”

The act prompted an outpouring of condemnation and mockery from Levin’s political opponents as well as Amit Becher, who heads the Israel Bar Association and called Levin a “criminal who endangers Israel’s existence.”

“He is not locking the door in the attorney general’s face, but is locking the door in the face of the rule of law in its entirety,” he fumed in a social media post. “This is the latest move in a mad campaign to completely crush the judicial system, while blatantly trampling on the rulings of the Supreme Court.”

He described Levin as an “existential threat” to Israel and called for his arrest.

“He belongs behind bars, not at the table of the government,” Becher wrote. “He must be removed immediately.”

National Unity-Blue and White party chair Benny Gantz, meanwhile, quipped: “Who said kindergartens weren’t open in August?”

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid struck a more serious tone, posting, “While the hostages are dying in Gaza and the IDF is fighting for our lives, the justice minister is acting like the last of the criminals and violating clear court rulings.”

“In Israel’s most difficult hour, we have a government of evaders, the corrupt, and lawbreakers,” the Yesh Atid leader wrote.

The Democrats party chair Yair Golan condemned the incident and called the government “a crime organization holding onto power by force.”