Knesset passes 2 laws cutting national insurance benefits for terror convicts

The Knesset gives final approval to two bills cutting national insurance benefits for terror convicts.

The first law, sponsored by Likud MK Ariel Kallner, is approved 29-8 in its third and final reading in the Knesset and revises the National Insurance Law to cut child allowances paid to parents of minors imprisoned for security or stone-throwing offenses.

The second, sponsored by Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky, passes 34-2 and revokes National Insurance Institute benefits paid to anyone living abroad who “has been convicted of an offense pronounced by the court to be an act of terrorism.”

The new law mandates the cessation of payments under the National Insurance Law, such as work injury allowances to eligible non-residents of Israel who fall under its purview.

According to the explanatory notes for the bill, which passed its first reading 23-7 in July: “In the course of the Swords of Iron war [in Gaza], it became apparent that there are also benefits paid to residents of the Gaza Strip who were involved in terrorist activity.”

Addressing the Knesset Labor and Welfare Committee earlier this month, Malinovsky stated that there are currently more than 30 people detained in Israel who meet this definition.

“The circus is over, the benefits for terrorists are being stopped,” she said at the time. “Thanks to the law, we will put an end to the absurd situation in which state benefits [paid for] from Israeli taxpayer money go to terrorists who have blood on their hands and have harmed innocent citizens.”