Jewish Home vetoes PM immunity bill over internal disagreements

The Jewish Home party says it will not support the so-called “French Bill” granting immunity to serving prime ministers from corruption investigations until their terms are ended.

The decision all but kills the bill’s chances in parliament, though it may also spark a feud with the ruling Likud party, which threatened earlier this week to freeze measures advanced by Jewish Home if the party refused to support the immunity bill.

A letter sent Wednesday from Jewish Home’s Knesset faction chair MK Shuli Moalem-Refaeli to Likud’s coalition chair MK David Bitan, says the Jewish Home’s opposition to the bill follows a “substantive and detailed discussion” in the party’s faction meeting on Monday.

“The discussion revealed significant disagreements between members of the faction, and no agreement was reached” within the party.

In light of that disagreement, Jewish Home decided to formally oppose the bill’s passage, Moalem-Refaeli writes.