From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Knesset passes ‘Hametz Law’ allowing hospitals to ban leavened products during Passover
Carrie Keller-Lynn is a former political and legal correspondent for The Times of Israel
The Knesset enacts legislation that enables hospitals to ban the entry of leavened food, or hametz, ahead of next week’s Passover holiday, during which observant Jews eschew such products.
A softened version of an earlier proposal, the bill enables hospital administrators to set a policy and post it on their website or with signage, but does not explicitly allow security guards to search patients’ or visitors’ bags to enforce the policy.
Ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism sponsored the bill, outraged after a 2020 High Court of Justice ruling blocked hospitals from searching bags to check for hametz, in response to petitions decrying the searches as invasive and religiously intrusive. The court extended its ruling to army bases last year.
