Attorney-General calls Police Investigation Department law a ‘poison capsule’ for law enforcement

Legislation changing the authority and structure of the Justice Ministry’s Police Investigation Department (PID), which investigates suspected crimes by police officers, is a “poison capsule” that would undermine impartial law enforcement from within, Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara warned Sunday.

The remarks were made to prosecutors and government legal officials at the Justice Ministry’s annual professional conference in Eilat.

Baharav-Miara credited senior law enforcement officials with helping preserve the system’s independence. Alongside their efforts, though, she said two laws pose a “serious, clear and immediate threat” to its ability to act out of loyalty to the public: the PID law and what she described as the law weakening the institution of the attorney-general.

“The PID law is sometimes presented as a kind of organizational change, almost an innocent one,” Baharav-Miara said. “In practice, the PID law is a poison capsule inserted into the law enforcement system, dismantling from within the principle of political neutrality and equality before the law.”

The PID legislation, sponsored by Likud MK Moshe Saada and passed in June, provides for separating the department from the State Attorney’s Office and establishing it as a distinct body within the Justice Ministry with its own budget. Supporters argue that separating it from prosecutors who routinely work with police would strengthen its independence.

Interim order issued suspending provisions on appointment of PID director

On September 3, the High Court of Justice issued an interim order suspending provisions governing the appointment of the PID director and a new coordinator, the committee responsible for those appointments, and the department’s separate budget. Supreme Court President Isaac Amit and Justice Dafna Barak-Erez supported the order, with Deputy President Noam Sohlberg opposed.

The petitions against the PID law were filed by the Movement for Quality Government, the Academy for a Democratic Israel and additional petitioners, and the Israel Bar Association. A hearing on the petitions is scheduled for December 28.

In submissions to the court, Baharav-Miara argued that advancing the appointments during the election period risked political interference and binding the next government. The Knesset opposed interim relief, arguing that appointments were reversible and that delaying preparations could prevent the restructured department from beginning work on schedule.

A-G warns: Legislation would result in political subordination

In her speech, Baharav-Miara said the legislation had begun with the argument that independence required separating the PID from the prosecution. But, she said, the result would be political subordination instead.

She warned that politicians would gain leverage to force criminal investigations into police officers, prosecutors, legal advisers and journalists, while also being able to obstruct investigations into government corruption or people close to those in power. Political control over appointing and removing senior PID officials would reinforce that pressure, she said.

"This is not independence; this is not an improvement; this is the politicization of law enforcement,” she said.

She asked whether officers and prosecutors would dare confront a powerful elected official, resist an unjustified investigation into a critical news outlet, or oppose investigating political rivals without sufficient evidence when a politically controlled investigative and prosecutorial unit could be turned against them.

The same pressure, she said, could undermine their ability to resist demands from the national security minister to suppress anti-government demonstrations.

“Unfortunately, the answer is clear - this kind of intimidation works,” she said.

The separate Attorney-General Law (Legal Opinions, Representation and Oversight), passed in July and scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027, allows the government to decide that the attorney-general’s legal opinions do not bind it, except in criminal matters, and expands its control over its representation in court.

Baharav-Miara said she would address the legislation weakening her office on another occasion. She and State Attorney Amit Aisman would continue fighting the PID changes, she said, describing the stakes as every person’s right to professional, equal law enforcement free of political influence.

Among the officials she credited with defending the rule of law was Boaz Balat, head of the police’s Investigations and Intelligence Division.

Separately, journalist Amit Segal reported Sunday evening on recordings in which Balat accused prosecutors of keeping criminal cases dormant as leverage over people and using the PID to exert similar pressure on police officers.

According to the report, Balat also accused the prosecution of prioritizing public corruption while neglecting crime in Arab communities, and said police officers were increasingly reluctant to confront Arab crime families.