Bar Association candidates: Judges should be selected for professionalism, not ideology
Arkady Eligulashvili, a candidate for the presidency of the Israel Bar Association in today’s elections, calls fellow candidate Efi Naoe’s campaign a “disgrace” because of his recent criminal conviction for smuggling his lover beyond border control at Ben Gurion airport. .
But Eligulashvili also chides leader Amit Becher for what he says is Becher’s politicization of the IBA because of his strident campaign against the government’s judicial overhaul agenda.
As to the consideration of the judicial ideology of judges seeking appointment, Eligulashvili is more cautious, saying that “professionalism,” not ideology, should be the sole factor.
“The IBA needs to make recommendations for judges that it considers to be the most professional, who have the best judicial temperament, who can contribute to the culture of debate with their knowledge and professionalism,” Eligulashvili told the Jerusalem Council of the IBA. told The Times of Israel outside the offices. ,
“The whole conversation around worker or non-worker judges lowers the level of debate at the expense of the issue of professionalism. If the judge is professional, can do justice, can be effective, activism should not be taken into account.”
The IBA’s Institute elections are very important this time because the association will elect two representatives to the Judicial Selection Committee, which selects judges for all courts in Israel.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who chairs the committee, wants to overhaul the judiciary, which he claims is too active and unnecessarily 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 on executive and legislative power.