The A-G is bad for business and Israel's national unity – opinion

A recent two-page paid insert at the front of four Israeli dailies illustrates the continued relevance of the numerous Biblical warnings against cult worship and the danger of the Tower of Babel phenomenon, where “the whole world had one language and a common speech.”

Paid for by the Israel Business Forum, a group consisting of about 200 heads of the largest companies in Israel, the readers of the four newspapers were greeted by a front cover half-page color photo of Israel’s Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, and the cry, “continue to safeguard the rule of law on behalf of all of us.”

The ad “strongly condemns any attempt to undermine the position” of Baharav-Miara, warning that doing so would result in “fatal harm to Israel’s democratic status and enormous political, economic, and social damage.”

Lest anyone think this was merely the unanimous opinion of every chief executive of Israel’s largest companies, the company heads noted they employ most workers in the nongovernmental sector, and those employees “represent a broad spectrum of political opinions.” 

Continuing hero worship

The message conveyed is that even people with different politics all agree on the virtues of Baharav- Miara and the need to insulate her from criticism.

It is, to understate the matter, extremely presumptuous for the forum heads to include their employees as fellow partners in the hero worship of Baharav-Miara. After all, it is clear that just as is the case in the country’s body politic, at least half of the employees of the Forum’s companies reject the notion that Baharav-Miara is a knight of democracy and that the safety of our democracy rests on her shoulders.

Indeed, a large percentage see Baharav-Miara as an anti-democratic actor fighting for the implementation of her worldview as a substitute for the policies of a government elected by the people in free and democratic elections. 

They see her as a chief architect of a legal system that champions the civil rights of only one particular half of the population and, indeed, is willing to trample the civil rights of those in the unfavored half.

Several critical factors further undercut in the minds of many the presentation of Baharev-Miara and the country’s legal institutions as the gatekeepers of the rule of law.

These include the recent arrests and interrogations of IDF reservists at Sde Teiman tasked with guarding Nukhba terrorists involved in the October 7 massacres; the leak of doctored footage and the initial horrendous and baseless charges brought against them; and the selective prosecution and ongoing brutal indictment of Eli Feldstein and other IDF reservists accused of leaking disfavored information.

The indictment accuses Feldstein of passing on classified information “in order to influence public opinion in Israel regarding the hostage negotiations and, in particular, the contributions of the anti-government demonstrations in [the] strengthening of Hamas.”

Tens of thousands of employees at companies that comprise the Business Forum wonder which “fundamental values of the state” are being protected while Feldstein and other IDF reservists are being treated like terrorists for trying to “influence public opinion” and “change public discourse.” 

The power that business executives think the chief government lawyer should have relative to the Israeli prime minister, the cabinet, and other ministers is extremely suspect and ironic given the number one complaint business executives have about their internal and external legal counsel. 

CEOs want their lawyers to help them advance and implement their business plans and objectives, not stymie them.

As an attorney for many years at one of the Israel Business Forum’s companies, I know that the last thing a CEO wants to be told by a lawyer is that something can’t be done. 

A recurring mantra is, “Don’t tell me no and don’t tell me I can’t; tell me how I can.” 

That is the job of a company lawyer and should be the job of a government lawyer. Too often, Baharav-Miara’s default approach and mindset is to act, not as an advocate, but as an adversary.

A recent case in point was a petition to the High Court of Justice brought by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel seeking to annul the government’s appointment of Odelia Minnes as acting head of the Second Authority for Television and Radio. 

The petition argued that Minnes was unqualified and that there were also procedural flaws in the appointment. Baharav-Miara refused to defend the government’s position. The High Court rejected both arguments against the appointment, the first unanimously, and upheld the appointment.

What clearly illustrates Baharav-Miara’s adversarial approach is that she found the government’s position so lacking in merit that not only would she not defend the government, she wouldn’t even allow it to obtain alternative legal representation. 

The court noted it was at a loss finding any legal basis for this refusal.

It is apparent that the chief executives of the Israel Business Forum have no principled position on the role of lawyers in government. The Forum didn’t suddenly develop a love for lawyers or regulation. Rather, they care deeply about maintaining the policy-making powers and authority of an attorney-general who thinks the same way they all do, even if it runs counter to the policies of the elected government.

The US elections last month represented, in part, a response to long-festering pent-up resentment against big-brother-type control and one-sided thinking in the media, the universities, and industry. By the same token, millions of Israeli customers and consumers at Israel’s banks and investment funds, its shops, airlines, and hotels resent the politicization in lockstep fashion of the places where they do business and make their purchases.

The one-sided political pronouncements and involvement by Israel’s largest companies are a turn-off for many consumers and create a distance among a large percentage of the employees and customers of the Business Forum companies. 

This is not only bad for business. It also weakens the cohesion in society and undermines our national resilience. 

The writer is an attorney in Israel and New York.