Lawmaker proposes immunity for PM over ‘minor’ infractions

Facing a series of corruption allegations and a possible police probe, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be granted a respite from what he has described as “nonsense and lies” via a new proposal to limit criminal investigations of a serving premier.

David Amsalem, the current chair of the Knesset Internal Affairs Committee and a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, has proposed legislation that would give a prime minister immunity for “minor transgressions” that hold a punishment of less than six months in prison.

The proposal, set to be presented to the Knesset when legislators return from the summer recess in October, would prevent an “unreasonably large” number of investigations into prime ministers, according to Amsalem.

Police are currently investigating Netanyahu for financial corruption related to three matters: longstanding allegations of illicit funding for foreign travel, claims that Netanyahu and his family inappropriately used public funds for food and entertainment, and the accusation that he illegally received a large sum for political campaigning from French billionaire fraudster Arnaud Mimran.

Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing in all three affairs.

In addition, last month, Netanyahu’s chief of staff was interrogated for corruption allegations and held under house arrest. The prime minister and members of his family are expected to be questioned next, according to Hebrew media reports.

“The prime minister of Israel holds the most important public position. He has to make critical decisions on issues that affect the entire population: diplomatic moves, security measures, economic and social programs. He cannot be occupied daily with investigations against him,” Amsalem wrote in a Facebook post explaining the proposal. “I don’t know of any democratic country in the world whose prime minister stars as the subject of such an unreasonably large number of investigations… and no one really believes that the rest of the world is filled with saints while only we in Israel have thieves.”

Leader of the opposition Meretz party Zehava Galon questioned the proposal’s logic, saying that the “very worrying” number of investigations does not mean that the state should limit the police’s work but “shows that we need to replace the prime minister.”

Zionist Union MK Itzik Shmuli, also in the opposition, described the proposal as a “threat to the rule of law.”

“Likud has crossed another red line today on the path toward turning Israel into a monarchy,” he said in a statement.

Amsalem did add however, that in order to prevent a situation where “the prime minister is above the law,” his bill would freeze the statute of limitations for crimes during the tenure of a prime minister. He also suggested that those questioning the timing of his proposal inform him of any specific suspicions of wrongdoing by Netanyahu so that he can present them to police before the proposal is brought to a vote.

The current allegations against Netanyahu are not the first time authorities have looked into suspected wrongdoing by him or his wife, Sara. And if a full-blown criminal investigation were opened, it wouldn’t be the first probe of a sitting prime minister or prominent public official.

Former prime minister Ehud Olmert is in prison for bribery and obstruction of justice. Former president Moshe Katsav is in prison for rape. And the late prime minister Ariel Sharon was being investigated for bribery when he fell into a coma in 2010 from which he never awoke.

As a serving Knesset member, the prime minister enjoys immunity from “searches, detention, criminal hearings and legal proceedings that are not connected to his work as a member of Knesset,” but is not protected from police investigations.

According to Israel’s criminal code, a category of offenses deemed “minor infractions” carried a jail sentence of up to three months. More serious crimes defined as “misdemeanors” are punished with three months to three years in prison.

Transgressions currently listed in the law as carrying a six-month prison sentence — and which would, therefore, under Amsalem’s proposal, not require a police investigation if committed by a prime minister — include selling alcohol to a minor, placing dangerous objects in a public place with the intent to cause a disturbance, and willfully allowing a pet to enter and damage a private lawn that has been reseeded in the last 12 months.

The suspicions against Netanyahu currently being investigated would likely carry a significantly higher prison sentence than six months.