Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Jewish Business News

World News

Knesset passes Police recommendations law after 2-day filibuster

After three days of opposition filibustering, controversial legislation barring police from publicly releasing recommendations on indictment passes with a majority of 59 votes in favor and 54 against; Yeah Atid appeals law at High Court.

Knesset passes recommendations bill into law Photo Amit Shabi

PM under investigation: The controversial recommendations bill, which bars police from publicly releasing its recommendations on indictment, passed early Thursday in the Knesset in second and third reading, making it law.

The legislation, proposed by new coalition head MK David Amsalem (Likud), received 59 votes in favor and 54 against.

Please help us out :
Will you offer us a hand? Every gift, regardless of size, fuels our future.
Your critical contribution enables us to maintain our independence from shareholders or wealthy owners, allowing us to keep up reporting without bias. It means we can continue to make Jewish Business News available to everyone.
You can support us for as little as $1 via PayPal at office@jewishbusinessnews.com.
Thank you.

The Yesh Atid party appealed the legislation to the High Court of Justice on Thursday morning, making good on party leader Yair Lapid’s threat at the Knesset on Wednesday night. In addition to Lapid’s appeal, two other appeals were submitted against the legislation.

“I invite all the people in the opposition who are opposed to this to join us,” Lapid said on Wednesday night, ahead of the bill’s passing. “If that doesn’t happen, I just want to say this: it is customary for parties to go to elections and say what they will do if they win. If we win in the elections, we will cancel the Recommendations Law, we will cancel the Primaries Law, the Trains Law and the Supermarket Law because all of these laws are undemocratic and they are twisted and are humiliating the State of Israel.”

 

Knesset passes recommendations bill into law Photo Yitzhak Harari Knesset

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Bayit Yehudi) expressed her disapproval with Lapid’s threats and statements, calling him out on his decision to take the matter to the HCJ.

“You don’t understand how the Knesset works. After a long discussion like this without any constitutional reason, you are running to the HCJ. You are trampling on the Knesset, and embarrassing everyone who is in here,” Shaked retorted.

Knesset legal adviser Eyal Yinon and Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit would have to defend the law at the High Court. Both Mandelblit and State Attorney Shai Nitzan have come out against the law throughout the legislative process. However, they have never deemed the law unconstitutional.

Regardless, the chances the court would strike down the law are slim. But it is possible to assume the judges would raise questions as to the need for such a law and the appearance it was passed to protest public officials who committed offenses.

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein warned that if Lapid followed through with his threats to take the matter to the courts, he would not disallow the use of Clause 98 preventing a further filibuster on the vote, essentially stopping Yesh Atid from using the tactic once again to stop the bill’s passage.

The Recommendations Law will put an end to a police practice in recent years to release a statement at the end of any investigation that is of interest to the public. If the police think enough evidence has been collected to file an indictment, it normally includes a note to that end in its investigation conclusions before prosecutors decide whether or not to press such charges.

Opposition lawmakers have said that the bill, tabled by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rightist Likud party, was designed to dampen public anger over police investigations against him, which have fueled weekly demonstrations in Tel Aviv and calls for the premier’s ouster.

Netanyahu is a suspect in two cases. In one, he is alleged to have meddled in the media industry. The other concerns gifts he received from wealthy businessmen. He denies any wrongdoing.

Netanyahu defended the bill on December 3 as “intended to prevent publication of police recommendations which would leave a cloud over innocent people, something that happens every day.” In 60 percent of cases where police recommend criminal charges, prosecutors decided not to indict, Netanyahu noted.

But the prime minister also called for the bill to be amended so it did not apply to the criminal investigations against him.

The final draft stipulated that the law would not be in effect regarding investigations that predate its ratification.

That has done little to mollify the opposition, whose members started filibustering at the Knesset on Tuesday, raising some 500 reservations against the bill.

Coalition MKs Rachel Azaria and Merav Ben Ari from the Kulanu party left the Knesset chamber before the vote, but their absence did not affect the end result. Netanyahu, Minister Haim Katz and MK David Bitan also did not vote due to the ongoing police investigations against them.

Zionist Union leader Avi Gabbay said following the vote that “December 27 is a dark day in the fight against crime and corruption. I repeat my commitment—a government led by me will cancel the Recommendations Law, the supermarkets bill and the jobs bill.”

By Ynet News

Newsletter



Advertisement

You May Also Like

World News

In the 15th Nov 2015 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:   ·         A new Israeli treatment brings hope to relapsed leukemia...

Entertainment

The Movie The Professional is what made Natalie Portman a Lolita.

Travel

After two decades without a rating system in Israel, at the end of 2012 an international tender for hotel rating was published.  Invited to place bids...

VC, Investments

You may not become a millionaire, but there is a lot to learn from George Soros.