From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Knesset committee advances bill to prevent Israeli funding of terror suspects’ legal defense
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee votes to send a bill prohibiting the Public Defender’s Office’s from providing legal representation to those defined by law as illegal combatants for its first reading in the Knesset plenum.
According to the text of the bill, the legal bills for anyone suspected or accused of terrorism following October 7 will be paid for from frozen Palestinian Authority tax funds held by Israel rather than from the state budget.
Last week, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich both harshly condemned the Israel Courts Administration over its request for funding for legal representation for captured combatants suspected of carrying out the October 7 atrocities in southern Israel.
Their comments came after it emerged that courts dealing with Palestinian detainees captured during the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza ruled that the prisoners needed legal representation when appearing before them.
Since the Public Defender’s Office has refused to represent these detainees, the courts ordered that they be given private counsel in accordance with Israeli law, which also stipulates that funding for such legal representation come from the state.
The Times of Israel Community.