Bar Association candidate: Judges should be chosen for professionalism, not ideology

Arkady Eligulashvilli, a candidate for the chairmanship of the Israel Bar Association in today’s elections, labels the campaign of fellow candidate Efi Nave “a disgrace” owing to his recent criminal conviction for smuggling his lover past border control in Ben Gurion airport.

But Eligulashvilli also castigates frontrunner Amit Becher for what he says is Becher’s politicization of the IBA due to his strident campaign against the government’s judicial overhaul agenda.

As to considerations regarding the judicial ideology of judges seeking appointment, Eligulashvilli is more cautious, saying that “professionalism,” not ideology, should be the only factor.

“The IBA needs to give recommendations for judges which it thinks are the most professional, who have the best judicial temperament, who can contribute to the culture of debate with their knowledge and professionalism,” Eligulashvilli tells The Times of Israel outside the IBA’s Jerusalem offices.

“The whole dialogue around activist or not-activist judges reduces the level of debate at the expense of the issue of professionalism. If the judge is professional, can do justice, can be effective, then activism shouldn’t be taken into consideration.”

The elections to the IBA’s institutions have taken on heavy significance this time since the association will elect two representatives to the Judicial Selection Committee, which selects judges to all courts in Israel.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who chairs the committee, seeks to overhaul the judiciary which he claims is too activist and unduly obstructs government decisions, policy and legislation.

Opponents of Levin’s agenda argue that assertive judicial review is necessary to uphold civil and human rights in the absence of other checks and balances to executive and legislative power.