Israel’s Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s sacking of Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, is legal.
He warned against any form of intervention in the matter.
Baharav-Miara made the remarks on Thursday in response to several petitions, challenging the legality of the order by the Prime minister.
She clarified that Netanyahu has the authority to fire ministers, citing the prime minister’s broad legal authority over ministerial appointments and dismissal.
Netanyahu had announced on Tuesday the immediate sacking of Gallant, citing, “a clash of trust” in the last few months.
The prime minister announced that Foreign Minister Israel Katz would replace Gallant, while Gideon Sa’ar became foreign minister.
Gallant’s removal caused mass protests in various areas, with the protesters calling for Netanyahu’s resignation.
It also led to multiple petitions challenging the Prime minister’s authority to remove ministers. One of the petitions was from the Movement for Quality Government, which asked the court to intervene in the dismissal.
In a statement, the group argued that Gallant’s termination was “a narrow political move that places personal and political interests above the good of the state and the security of its citizens,” linking the premier’s decision to the contentious Haredi draft legislation.
Meanwhile, Israel continued its bombardment of Gaza on Wednesday, with 40 people killed in its air strikes in eastern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
The Israeli military had said the strikes, in the governorates of Baalbek and Bekaa, hit operatives and infrastructure of the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s culture minister said one of the strikes seriously damaged an Ottoman-era building in the vicinity of the Roman ruins in the city of Baalbek, which is a Unesco World Heritage site.
Wednesday’s strikes also hit the southern suburbs of Beirut, after the Israeli military issued new evacuation warnings.
The military said it struck Hezbollah command centres, weapons stores and other infrastructure.
A later military warning covered four neighbourhoods in southern Beirut including an area near Lebanon’s only commercial airport, which has continued to operate during the war between Israel and Hezbollah.