Attorney General backflips on approval of Lebanon agreement

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has changed her stance on the process of approving the emerging agreement between Israel and Lebanon concerning the Qana/Sidon natural gas field. A senior diplomatic source recently told diplomatic correspondents that Baharav-Miara had given the green light for the agreement to be approved only by the security cabinet, with no need to bring it before the full government or the Knesset.

In the past twenty-four hours, Baharav-Miara has told people with whom she has spoken that she has changed her mind from the position she stated orally to Prime Minister Yair Lapid, that approval in the security cabinet was sufficient, following the publication of reports on the matter.

The reports drew criticism of the attorney general’s position, which is not in line with that of the Ministry of Justice. The ministry’s view is that the agreement needs to be approved by the full government and to be laid before the Knesset for public scrutiny. The embarrassment became all the greater in the light of the fact that five of the seven deputy attorneys general were working on formulating a position, and discovered via the press that a decision had already been relayed to the prime minister by the attorney general.

Baharav-Miara’s position is now that the agreement needs to be approved by the government and laid before the Knesset.

No response was obtainable from the attorney general apart from a referral to the press release issued yesterday stating that she had not yet formulated an opinion on the way in which the agreement should be approved.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on October 3, 2022.

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