Israel attorney general warns of democratic erosion under Netanyahu government

JERUSALEM: Israel’s attorney general Gali Baharav-Miara warned on Monday that the country was undergoing democratic backsliding under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, citing threats to judicial independence and what she described as the executive’s disregard for court decisions.

Baharav-Miara, who also serves as the government’s legal adviser, made the remarks at a conference of the Israeli Bar Association in Eilat. She has been at odds with Netanyahu’s administration since it took office in late 2022.

At the conference, she said the approach of the current Knesset’s term was driving efforts to weaken democratic institutions. She highlighted two bills now moving through parliament. One seeks to divide the attorney general’s authority by creating a prosecutor general post to be appointed by the justice minister. The other would give far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir greater control over the police.

"Given the approach of the end of the current Knesset’s term, a race has begun to eliminate democratic institutions," Baharav-Miara said speaking at the event.

According to a statement issued by her office, she also criticised what she said was a broader pattern of ignoring court rulings. She warned that public confidence in the binding nature of judicial decisions could be damaged if the government continued to call for such rulings to be disobeyed.

"In a situation where the government calls for court rulings not to be obeyed, the day is not far off when a court judgment will be perceived by the public as non-binding," Baharav-Miara said.

Conscription dispute

Her comments referred in part to the government’s failure to implement military conscription for ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, a community that had long been exempt from army service until recently. Israel’s Supreme Court has challenged that exemption several times in recent years, and in 2024 ruled that the government must draft ultra-Orthodox men.

Netanyahu has resisted moves to end the exemption because his government depends on the support of ultra-Orthodox parties. Baharav-Miara said the situation was legally untenable at a time when the burden on those already serving was increasing.

"It is not possible, from a legal standpoint, to cooperate with a situation in which, on the one hand, the government increases the burden on those who serve, while on the other hand it permits mass draft evasion, and some would even say encourages it," she said.