The Legal Advisor to the Government, Gali Baharav-Miara, opposes the establishment of the governmental investigation committee regarding the police use of the Pegasus surveillance software.
The proposal was submitted by the Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin, who despite the expected opposition from Baharav-Miara, raised the issue in the weekly government meeting.
In the opinion published for the purpose and signed by its two deputies - Attorney Sharon Afek and Dr. Gil Limon - it is argued that there is no authority for the government to grant the investigative committee the authority to deal with pending and ongoing criminal proceedings due to a genuine concern of improper influence on these proceedings.
"Undermining the independence of the law enforcement system"
In addition to their remarks, there is a serious concern about the potential impact on the work of the police and security agencies due to the exposure of methods and essential means that these same entities use in their fight against serious crime and in safeguarding national security: "This concern is not trivial and has not been addressed within the framework of the proposed decision."
The legal advisory to the government specifies in the letter that granting authority to the governmental investigation committee to conduct an inquiry regarding ongoing and pending criminal proceedings exceeds the authority granted to the Minister of Justice and the government in Section 8a of the law, "and undermines fundamental principles of the independence of the law enforcement system."
"Therefore, there is a legal motive for our position not to authorize the committee to engage in ongoing and pending criminal proceedings."