In its sitting on Wednesday, the knesset plenum voted to approve in preliminary reading the Splitting the Post of the Attorney General Bill, 2025, sponsored by MKs Simcha Rothman, Ohad Tal and Michal Woldiger (Religious Zionism). In the vote, 59 Members of Knesset supported the bill, versus 44 opposing votes, and it will be turned over to the House Committee to determine the committee in which the bill will be deliberated.
It is proposed to re-regulate the structure of the Attorney General’s Office and the prosecution in Israel by splitting the post of the Attorney General into three separate posts—Attorney General, Prosecutor General and representative of the state in legal proceedings. The bill also proposes ways for making the appointment, qualifications of competence, length of term and powers for each of the position holders, while ensuring their professional independence on one hand and proper administrative supervision on the other.
The explanatory notes to the bill state: “The purpose of this goal is to re-regulate the structure of the Attorney General’s Office and the prosecution in the State of Israel by splitting the post of Attorney General into three separate posts—Attorney General, Prosecutor General and representative of the state in court.
“The need for this separation stems from institutional and built-in conflicts of interest between these posts. The Attorney General, by nature of his post, is supposed to advise the Government and assist it to fulfill its policy within the framework of the law. This role requires working closely with the Government ministers and creating a relationship of trust with them. Along with this, in his role as head of the General Prosecution, he is called upon to make decisions on investigating and prosecuting people who are suspected of committing criminal offenses, including the same ministers and elected officials—thereby creating a built-in conflict of interest.
In addition, there is a conflict of interest between representation of the state in civil and administrative proceedings and representation of the state in criminal proceedings. While in civil and administrative proceedings, the Attorney General represents the specific interests of the elected Government, in criminal proceedings he must represent the interests of the general public, without bias and regardless of the Government’s position.”
Also on Wednesday, the knesset Plenum voted to approve in preliminary reading the Prosecutor General Bill, 2022, sponsored by MK Hanoch Milwidsky (Likud), to which a bill sponsored by MK Yitzhak Kroizer (Otzma Yehudit) and a bill sponsored by MK Ariel Kallner (Likud) were attached. In the vote, 56 Members of Knesset supported the bill, versus 43 opposing votes, and it will be turned over to the House Committee to determine the committee in which the bill will be deliberated.
It is proposed to separate between the institution of the Attorney General’s Office and the institution of the criminal prosecution. Accordingly, it is proposed to appoint a Prosecutor General who will be authorized to manage the criminal proceedings in the State of Israel. The Prosecutor General will be appointed by the Minister of Justice with the approval of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee and subject to the proposed conditions of competence.
The explanatory notes to the bill state: “The main purpose of this bill is to ensure the complete independence of the criminal prosecution as a quasi-judicial institution free of irrelevant institutional considerations. In doing so, this bill seeks to ensure the maximum confidence of the public in the institution of the criminal prosecution.
“Since the institution of the Attorney General’s Office is responsible, by virtue of its post, for additional interests besides those of the criminal prosecution, this bill seeks to separate between the institution of the Attorney General’s Office and the institution of the General Prosecution. This bill also seeks to recognize the unique specialization required of a prosecutor general and to set conditions of competence accordingly.”
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