Knesset Gives Final Approval to Bill Limiting the Attorney General’s Role

The Knesset plenum on Wednesday approved, in second and third readings, the first part of the legislation to overhaul the role of the attorney general, by a vote of 65 to 51. The law is set to take effect on 1 January 2027.

Under the approved law, the attorney general's role is defined as assisting the government in advancing its policy and objectives within the framework of the law. The law further defines the status of the attorney general's legal opinions, while making clear that the government retains the right to adopt a different legal position. It also stipulates that there shall be no situation in which the government's legal representation is inconsistent with the government's own position.

The law also contains provisions strengthening the accountability of legal advisers in government ministries to the ministers and to the government, and it establishes mechanisms of oversight and review by the justice minister over the attorney general's work.

Approval of the law follows more than 60 meetings of the Constitution Committee, in the course of which thousands of objections were addressed and fundamental questions concerning the relationship between the government and its legal counsel were examined.

Constitution Committee chairman MK Simcha Rothman welcomed the vote: "Today we brought about a historic change in the way the government receives legal counsel in the State of Israel. The law that I initiated and that has now passed restores legal counsel to its natural role — to advise and assist the government, not to substitute its own judgment for the government's or to prevent the government from implementing the policy for which it was elected."

He continued: "This step is part of what we promised our voters in the Religious Zionism platform. This important amendment will regulate the way the government conducts itself vis-à-vis the attorney general's legal counsel, so that a government elected by the public can govern, receive professional legal advice, but also determine its own position and be represented in court in a manner consistent with its policy."

Rothman added: "I thank the committee members, the professional staff and everyone who took part in this important work. Today we took another significant step toward strengthening Israeli democracy and repairing the relationship between the elected branch and the legal branch. The second part of the law to split the role of the attorney general will, God willing, be passed after the elections, and with the strength the public gives us I will complete the legislation and continue the reform of the justice system."