Weekly Commentary: Radical 1st Reading Text Of MK Immunity Law Repeats Critical Error

Weekly Commentary: Radical 1st Reading Text Of MK Immunity Law Repeats Critical Error
Dr. Aaron Lerner 11 December 2024

“…he (Justice Minister Levin) did not intend for his plan to pass in its maximalist version, and he admitted that he planted many bargaining chips in it…. With the passage of time, his spirit darkened and he expressed to his interlocutors authentic frustration at the feeling that there was no one to talk to on the other side.”
Hilo Glazer Haaretz Supplement 5.5.2023

Those radical “bargaining chips” in the judicial reform legislation certainly backfired.

So I am scratching my head trying to figure out why in the world the ruling coalition passed the first reading of an immunity law with the craziest wording I have ever seen.

Here is a translation:

Proposed Law: Immunity of Knesset Members, Their Rights and Obligations (Amendment – Knesset Approval for Initiating Criminal or Civil Proceedings), 5784–2024
Initiator: Knesset Member Tali Gottlieb

Amendment to Section 1
1. In the Immunity of Knesset Members, Their Rights and Obligations Law, 5711–1951, in Section 1, after subsection (a1), the following shall be added:
“(a2) No criminal investigation shall be initiated against a Knesset member, and no court shall hear a civil lawsuit against a Knesset member, unless the Knesset, by a majority of 90 of its members, determines that the act for which the investigation was requested or the lawsuit was filed was not performed in the course of fulfilling the member’s duties or for the purpose of fulfilling the member’s duties. This provision shall not apply to a criminal investigation regarding an offense under the provisions of Section 284 and Chapter Nine, Part E of the Penal Law, 5737–1977.”
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So while the law does not apply to: Section 284 of the Penal Law (Breach of Trust by a Public Servant) and Chapter Nine, Part E of the Penal Law (Offenses of Bribery), it does grants immunity for MKs who murder, steal and more as long as there aren’t 90 MKs willing to vote to strip the MK of the MK’s immunity.

Dear Reader: I’ve written against this crazy law in Hebrew and had misgivings about sharing news of this incredibly wrong legislation in English.

On the other hand, I wanted to share my take on this law before others did.

This terrible law is an example of how the practice of having “bargaining chips” in legislation can get out of hand.

I was hoping that after the judicial reform debacle, our legislators would be more careful.
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