Justice Minister Yariv Levin told Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara Saturday night that she cannot be involved in the investigation and legal proceedings in the Sde Teiman video leak affair, and said he planned to appoint a public official to investigate the matter, in consultation with the interim civil service commissioner.

In a sharply worded letter to Baharav-Miara, Levin implicitly accused her and her staff of having sought to obstruct investigative proceedings seeking to find the source of the leak — to which Military Advocate Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi admitted on Friday — and said that the attorney general’s role in the matter would have to be examined.

Levin argued that Baharav-Miara was therefore legally unable to participate in the legal proceedings against the former military advocate general, according to the terms of the 1959 Law for the Civil Service.

He added that she could not be involved in investigating “the apparent obstruction of legal and investigative proceedings” into the leak, or the appointment of a new military advocate general, or an interim one.

It was not immediately clear that the minister had the authority to independently forbid the attorney general from involving herself in an investigation, but he could take legal steps to attempt to enforce his demand should she refuse.

The Democrats MK Gilad Kariv denounced Levin over his steps against the attorney general, accusing him of “subverting the rule of law,” and called on Baharav-Miara to ignore his instructions.

Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned from her post on Friday after admitting........

© The Times of Israel