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A new government without a criminal defendant is an opportunity for reform of the justice system - Walla! news

2021-05-08T19:18:13.813Z


In the next two months, a government may be formed in Israel, with an important common denominator between its components: the two prime ministers are not suspected of crimes. They are now required to lead the country forward


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A new government without a criminal defendant is an opportunity for reform of the justice system

In the next two months, a government may be formed in Israel, with an ideological chasm between its components but also an important common denominator: the two potential prime ministers are not suspected of crimes.

It is precisely in this reality that Lapid, Michaeli and Horowitz are required to seize the opportunity - and reach historic agreements on the legal system.

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  • Attorney General

  • Department of Justice

  • Benjamin Netanyahu

  • Ehud Olmert

  • Ehud Barak

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Friday, 07 May 2021, 10:13

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President Rivlin: "Grants the mandate to MK Yair Lapid" (Photo: GPO)

The nature of certain governments is usually only to deal with the day - to - day affairs of the State of Israel.

Any entry into a mined area could blow up the government, so these government leaders avoid as much as they can entering these areas.

Ostensibly, the case before us is much more complicated than previous cases;

After all, when was the last time a government was formed in Israel headed by a right-wing party in the Likud, which included the most left-wing party in the Zionist left?

Never.



Of the many areas of controversy, the most mined is that of the judiciary.

It is clear that the immediate instinct of the Lapid-Michaeli-Horowitz bloc is to prevent any change, any constitutional-substantial reform in the judicial system, ostensibly to do their part in the balance of power.

My opinion is that they should act precisely against their instinct, and precisely in this way they will better serve their electorate, and the entire State of Israel.

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Should act precisely against their instinct.

Michaeli and Lapid (Photo: Official website, without)

All Israeli governments since 1996 have been led by leaders, who have been criminals for at least part of their leadership.

Since the constitutional revolution that began in 1992 (still the Likud government), with the enactment of two Basic Laws, a Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, a Basic Law: Freedom of Occupation, there has been a lively debate over authority relations, a debate that gained momentum after the founding ruling. Mizrahi ") led in 1995 by Justices Meir Shamgar and Aharon Barak, a ruling that paved the way for the Supreme Court's judicial review of Knesset laws. At the same time, a discussion began to develop regarding the dual role of the Attorney General (General Counsel and Prosecutor). The point is that the ability of the legislature and the executive to conduct a substantive discussion on these important questions soon failed.



One of the main reasons why all Israeli governments since 1996 have been led by leaders is that at least part of their leadership were criminal suspects. Netanyahu (in his first term) was a suspect in the Bar-On-Hebron affair. These were not mere suspicions, but those that touched on the very core of the matter - suspicion of interfering with criminal considerations in the selection of the Attorney General of the State of Israel.



The two stars of that 1997 affair (which, while not an indictment, but many of the facts in it were not hidden) were the prime minister and the interior minister.

Yes, yes, this is the same prime minister and the same interior minister in 2021.

It was clear that in such a government it is not really possible to lead significant reforms in the legal system and the general prosecution without being perceived as a stakeholder.



The Ehud Barak government was short-lived in any case, and in any case during this period, Barak was also a criminal suspect in the non-profit affair (this case was also closed).

The next prime minister, Ariel Sharon, also became a criminal suspect not long after taking office.

The two stars of the 1997 affair are the same prime minister and interior minister of 2021. Deri and Netanyahu, 2017 (Photo: Walla! NEWS system, Noam Moskowitz)

Sharon's successor, Ehud Olmert, was not deterred by his criminal suspicions of trying to make changes in the justice system. On the contrary. As Minister of Justice, he appointed Prof. Daniel Friedman, who was then considered the most militant academic voice calling for dramatic, far-reaching changes in the justice system. Although Friedman is an honest man, it must be said that prior to his appointment he conducted an intensive campaign on Yedioth Ahronoth against the general prosecution system, against the background of the investigation of his predecessor in office, Haim Ramon, in the indecent act case, Not hidden) of the non-appointment of his personal girlfriend, Prof. Nili Cohen. While in office, he also attacked the system for what he saw as "persecuting Olmert." Friedman's initiatives were extreme and were repeatedly rejected by the government and the Knesset (among others by the Likud in the opposition), because the good faith of their initiators could not be believed.



After Olmert, a prime minister finally arrived who, for an entire long term, was not a criminal suspect.

Not only was he not a criminal suspect, he had a fully right-wing conservative government, so he apparently had the first quiet opportunity in Israeli history, since the constitutional revolution, to make far-reaching changes to the prosecution and justice system.

But this prime minister, whose name is Benjamin Netanyahu, was not interested in this direction.

On the contrary.

He constantly pushed every initiative of his faction members (Zeev Elkin and Yariv Levin), to make such changes, and boasted about it in public speeches and television interviews.

His criminal suspicions did not prevent him from trying to make changes in the justice system.

Olmert, 2015 (Photo: Paul Photographers, Gil Yohanan)

This term lasted four full years from 2009 to 2013. The next term was short-lived, and after that this prime minister became, alas, once again a criminal suspect.

Since then, as the suspicions have closed on him, he has become more and more hostile to the prosecution system in particular and the trial in general, and has spoken out against them at every opportunity.

Suddenly it was so important to him to carry out reforms (in good faith, but what), that he was willing to prevent the appointment of a State Attorney to this system (since the end of 2019), to prevent the appointment of a CEO to this system, and finally to appoint a Minister of Justice (until the High Court Forced him to appoint).

The common denominator

In the months of May-June 2021, a government may be formed in Israel, whose various components have a huge ideological abyss. But, without us noticing, among its components there is also an important common denominator, which was supposed to be trivial, but in our reality it really is not. The two prime ministers, the potential successors, are not criminals, and moreover, neither of the future prime ministers is a criminal suspect. It is precisely in this reality that the parties that tend to avoid any idea of ​​change in the judicial system (for fear that it will serve its evil interests) are required to act contrary to their instinct. It is time to enter this mined territory with clean and patriotic hands alike.



The two most important reforms that this government can lead, precisely because of the ideological gaps within it, are splitting the functions of the Attorney General and reaching an agreement on regulating the relationship between the legislature and the judiciary in an agreed-upon ruling. Sounds impossible to you? The hallucinatory? So forgive me, you are captives of old conceptions.

Will the position of ombudsman be split? Mandelblit (Photo: Flash 90, Olivia Fitoussi, Flash 90)

The ombudsman's opinion, contrary to what Netanyahu thinks, is binding, and this should be enshrined in legislation. A general prosecutor should not come into unnecessary contact with politicians and government ministers at all, and they should have no connection in his election.

I will explain: The question of splitting the functions of the Attorney General is not a sectoral-political question.

Academics who are identified with the defense of the legal system also support this split (Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer, for example).

In the distant past various committees have discussed this issue, concluding that the harm will outweigh the benefit.

Today in my opinion it is already clear that the opposite is true.

The method of the two hats: the Attorney General of the State of Israel, and the interpreter of the law of the Government of Israel, is an expression of a structured and bad conflict of interest.



There is no logic and no reason why while the attorney general is sitting in a meeting with government ministers, who probably occasionally has small talk, jokes, maybe even an intimate personal conversation of the adviser with one of the ministers, he knows that right now his interlocutor is wiretapping, and in a week The investigative outburst against him. It's wierd. unnatural. Does not make sense. There really is no reason for that. I have written here before that one of the reasons, in my opinion, that Netanyahu's imprisonment was not declared, is that the adviser cannot be the one who prosecuted Netanyahu, nor the one who says he cannot serve because of the same criminal law. This is exactly where the Attorney General should have come in.



Need a strong advisor and a strong prosecutor. A new law should strengthen the status of the two, and for the first time anchor the status of both in legislation. The Attorney General's opinion, contrary to what Netanyahu thinks, is a binding opinion, and this should be enshrined in legislation. A general prosecutor should not come into unnecessary contact with politicians and government ministers at all, and they should have no connection in his election.



As for the overcoming stop, it is always thought to be an untenable mine. Nonsense. After all, Prof. Aharon Barak also expressed at the time that he would not express opposition to him. The number of Knesset members that would have been determined for the purpose of overcoming the High Court ruling was 80. Politicians wanted a majority of 61. What is the big problem? And to be in the safe place, one can also add Prof. Barak Medina's proposal that any judicial review of Knesset legislation would also require a qualified majority of the Supreme Court? Obviously this is possible.

The overcoming clause is not an untenable mine. Prof. Aharon Barak (Photo: Official Website, Shlomi Gabay)

The great diversity in this government should not paralyze it from engaging in such an issue.

On the contrary.

This is exactly where you can create significant reform, rather than preserve the existing one.

It is clear that in the political sphere nothing will move with this government, and it is doubtful whether there will be reforms in Israel's economic policy (given the ideological gaps in economic perceptions).

Precisely on the two legal issues above, this government can reach agreements, through the establishment of a balanced committee with politicians and academics who are very much in agreement with each other, but also determined to finally reach a settlement.



If both sides understand the need to take advantage of the window of opportunity in which the Israeli leadership is not suspected of corruption, they can achieve surprising results, leaving a double legacy - both reforms that regulate the status of prosecution, legal advice, and relations between authorities, and a message where ideological politicians can To lead the State of Israel forward, if only their hands are clean.



Baruch Kara is the legal commentator for News 13

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