Attorney General demands cancellation of senior police officer's appointment; lawyers clash in studio

Is the legal system intervening once again in the decisions of the executive branch? Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, her deputy Gil Limon, and the head of the Investigations and Intelligence Division Boaz Blet have appealed to Police Commissioner Dani Levy, demanding he cancel the appointment of Lieutenant Colonel Udi Ronen as head of the police department for incitement to terrorism.

Advocate Michael Dvorin, who previously represented the Likud, and Advocate Yehuda Shefer, former Deputy State Attorney for Economic Enforcement, confronted each other this Sunday morning on 103fm radio regarding the Attorney General's surprising demand.

Advocate Dvorin was the first to address the matter:

"The name Udi Ronen made headlines in the story of the incitement to terrorism department. When the Commissioner appointed him, they said he would hunt 'Kaplanists.' As a result, a court order was issued and the department was shut down, but eventually, it was returned under the wings of Blet, and such a department no longer exists."

He continued: "The result of this, besides the fact that incitement to terrorism is not being investigated, is that currently the 'Law for the Deportation of Terrorist-Supporting Families' has been thwarted. How? You cannot check if families support terrorism. There are 130 requests prepared by that same Udi Ronen."

Advocate Shefer expressed his opinion:

"I am personally in favor of deporting families of terrorists. The law passed, and there is a claim in an article published on Ynet that it was not promoted because of the Attorney General. After the law passed, the Commissioner should have consulted with the Minister of Interior on how to examine candidates for deportation, but they did not. The Attorney General has represented over 2,000 security petitions. In my opinion, claims about a 'Deep State' come from failing people who do not know how to execute. For example, Smotrich knows how to execute, and he made a revolution in the West Bank. The 'Deep State' will be one of the central issues in these elections."

Advocate Dvorin responded: "It is true that one needs to work on implementing the law, but for that, one needs to want to. You receive 130 requests, so you have a cadre, you can decide what is extreme. The Ministry of Interior intended to do it, but an order was received from Gil Limon saying, 'in the meantime do nothing, you are torpedoing the law,' and it is impossible to work like that. They did not let him advance at all."

Advocate Shefer noted critically: "In a proper country, when such an important law passes, it is expected that there will be a meeting with the Shin Bet, the Ministry of Interior, and the police to decide how to implement it. They collected people who are not suitable for deportation—there are serious problems—the Shin Bet objects." Advocate Dvorin quipped: "When the system wants to, it knows how to run very fast."