Knesset passes bill to compensate Israeli casualties of terror attack abroad

A bill that would allow Israelis killed or injured in attacks abroad to be recognized as state victims of terror passes its first reading in the Knesset.

People injured or killed by “enemy hostilities” are entitled to financial compensation and other forms of assistance from the state. However, currently Israel does not have an official mechanism in place to give that designation to Israelis hurt or killed in attacks outside the country.

The bill, proposed by MKs Haim Yellin and David Bitan, would set up a special committee that would investigate “irregular” cases and grant the “victim of enemy hostilities” status to Israeli citizens, “even if the act was not directed against Israeli citizens or the Jewish people,” the Knesset says.

The bill cites two recent cases in which Israelis were killed in terror attacks abroad, the shooting attack on a night club in Istanbul and a car-ramming attack in Berlin.

The bill passes with no opposition and now moves to the Knesset’s Work and Welfare Committee.