Be careful [in your dealings] with the ruling authorities for they do not befriend a person except for their own needs.

“Be careful [in your dealings] with the ruling authorities for they do not befriend a person except for their own needs; they seem like friends when it is to their own interest, they seem like friends when it is to their own interest, but they do not stand by a man in the hour of his distress.”

Tractate of Avot 2:3

Rabban Gamaliel III affirmed that one must be suspicious about ruling authorities and their representatives. Government officials tend to favor those who help advance their interests. However, in times of distress, they often turn a blind eye to those who helped them.

Integrity is honest and uncompromising adherence to our guiding moral principles.