Israel’s Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara warned on Thursday against the latest bills put forth in the Knesset that are slated to help form Benjamin Netanyahu’s next government.
Speaking at a Haifa University’s law conference, Baharav-Miara said that “the legislative proposals being discussed these days – what is unfortunately known as the ‘legislative blitz’ – do not stand on their own. The backlog of proposals on the table, certainly if implemented hastily, which is not based on a comprehensive and long-term view, may disrupt the system of checks and balances between the government authorities.”
Israel’s incoming government wasted no time with their legislative agenda, passing preliminary readings of three key bills on Tuesday that grant significant powers to Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right allies.
The first proposal amended one of Israel’s semi-constitutional basic laws to allow Shas head Arye Dery to be appointed as minister despite being sentenced to a suspended prison term. It was swiftly followed by bills subordinating the police chief to the far-right National Security Minister-designate Itamar Ben-Gvir and another granting Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich control of the Civil Administration, a key authority in the West Bank.
Baharav-Miara said that she does not dispute the importance of critical thinking in relation to the existing political structure. “Changes are sometimes forced by reality,” she said, “but the idea according to which it is true or possible to make a deep change in the fabric of the political arena at the stroke of a pen is wrong in my eyes. A fundamental change requires deep thinking and informed judgment.”
She added that the bills on the incoming government’s agenda did not propose mechanisms to balance the rule of the majority and guarantee the state’s commitment to human rights. “Those who wish to make a change in the Israeli system of checks and balances should clarify how, according to their method, the rule of the majority will be restrained from harming the minority,” she said.
The attorney general reiterated that elected politicians should govern the country and enact laws. “This is the basic democratic principle,” Baharav-Miara said. “Effective governance is essential for the prosperity of the country and the realization of the voter’s will. Not only do we believe in this, we also assist the government in doing so. This is our role,” she said, but added that “without judicial review and independent legal advice, we will have to abandon this principle of majority rule [to protect all Israelis]. [Otherwise we are simply] a democracy in name only.”
Baharav-Miara also warned against “politicizing law enforcement” which, according to her, “will lead to a severe violation of the most basic principles of the rule of law: equality, absence of arbitrariness, and the absence of partiality. If there is even a small sense of politicization [of the law enforcement system], it will deal a fatal blow to its ability to function and seriously harm public trust. In a democratic country, it is not appropriate to change the relationship between the legislative body and the law enforcement system with this legislation.”