AG warns incoming government’s legislative blitz will undermine democracy

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara warns that legislation being advanced by the incoming government will weaken the checks on executive power in Israel, and asserts that majority rule without institutional balances to its power could not be considered a true democracy.

Speaking at a legal conference at the University of Haifa, Baharav-Miara asserts that legislation being pursued by the incoming government amounts to a “substantive change in governance” that requires greater consideration and debate.

The attorney general expresses particular concern about plans to implement a High Court override law and to make ministerial legal advisers political not professional appointees, as well as legislation increasing the power of the minister responsible for the police over the police commissioner.

“These initiatives are designed to reduce the power of the judicial branch of government,” says Baharav-Miarai as well as “reduce the influence of the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty.”

She adds, “This group of proposals without an overall and long-term vision may disrupt the system of checks and balances between the government authorities, certainly if they are implemented hastily.”

Speaking more generally, the attorney general suggests that Israeli democracy, as expressed through protections for minorities from the rule of the majority, is in danger.

“It is said that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. This is always correct, including in our times. Even in a country where the government is elected democratically, the principle of majority rule is not enough to ensure freedom and equality for all.”