Controversial bill to shield politicians
The Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee readied the bill after only five discussions, held over the past nine days, and despite criticism from experts and the opposition.
(Times of Israel) – As protests over the judicial changes in Israel continued in their 26th week, a controversial bill to shield elected officials from judicial scrutiny over the “reasonableness” of their decisions was being readied for its first of three Knesset floor votes as early as this Monday, after the Knesset committee preparing the bill approved it for the plenum.
The Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee readied the bill after only five discussions, held over the past nine days, and despite criticism from experts and the opposition.
A several-minute-long screaming match preceded the vote, surrounding the committee chair’s refusal to let the Deputy Attorney-General speak, with opposition lawmakers yelling, “It’s an illegal vote” and “This is how a dictator behaves.” Committee chair MK Simcha Rothman finally permitted Gil Limon to speak – though only following the vote – after the Knesset’s legal adviser insisted on it.
As part of the raucous debate preceding the vote, several opposition lawmakers were intermittently booted from the committee.
The latest step in the coalition’s planned overhaul of the judiciary, the bill would completely block judicial review or discussion of the “reasonableness” of decisions and appointments made by the cabinet, individual ministers and “other elected officials, as set by law”.
Rothman said the bill will only currently apply to the government and ministers, although he said he did not plan to pull the “other elected officials” clause, keeping a door open to a future broadening of its scope. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier ordered Rothman and Justice Minister Yariv Levin to remove mayors from the bill’s protection.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who heads Rothman’s far-right Religious Zionism party, told the committee after the vote that the bill “strengthens democracy”, and he slammed anti-judicial overhaul protesters against it as “privileged”.
Meanwhile, on Monday, thousands of anti-overhaul protesters shut down road traffic within Ben Gurion Airport for hours, with hundreds protesting inside the main terminal. Smotrich said such protests are attended by figures on the “fringe”, and despite 52 arrests, said police were engaging in “selective enforcement”.
“The left is allowed to block roads and the right is prohibited,” he claimed, referring to right-wing protests against withdrawal of the civilian population under the 2005 Gaza disengagement plan during which thousands were arrested for blocking roads.
The main demonstration was, as usual, held on Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street, with an estimated 130,000 participants, while organisers put the number at some 150,000. Nationwide, organisers claimed a turnout of some 286,000.
Even before the Tel Aviv rally began, some protesters briefly blocked traffic on the nearby Ayalon Highway. While clearing the road, police arrested two people for disrupting public order.
At the rally, Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai spoke against government moves related to religion and state, including far-right MK Avi Maoz of the ultra-conservative anti-LGBTQ party Noam being given control over extracurricular school programs.
“You won’t dictate to us what Judaism is and how we must live it. Your Judaism isn’t our Judaism. You forgot what it is to be Jews in Huwara and Umm Safa,” Huldai said, referring to two Palestinian villages in the West Bank that have been the sites of riots by extremist settlers.
“You forgot what it is to be Jews by avoiding taking part in the [national military burden],” he said, noting the low enlistment rate in the Charedi community. “You forgot what it is to be Jews by persecuting the LGBTQ community.”
Huldai appeared to be paraphrasing a well-known ‘hot mic’ comment by Netanyahu in 1997 that “the left forgot what it means to be Jews”.
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