From the Liveblog of
Sunday, July 30, 2023
Knesset passes law making terror aggravating factor in sex crimes
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleOn its last operational day before breaking for summer recess, the Knesset passes a law to make terror, nationalist, or racist motivation an aggravating factor in crimes of sexual assault or harassment.
It would also double compensatory penalties assessed for sexual harassment motivated by racism or hostility toward certain groups.
Sponsored by a group of lawmakers from the far-right coalition party Otzma Yehudit and right-wing opposition party Yisrael Beytenu, the new law marks rare cross-Knesset alignment and passes 39 to 7 on its final reading.
The law also establishes reporting requirements, whereby the justice and national security ministers would have to report enforcement statistics to the Knesset’s National Security Committee annually, in March.
The Times of Israel Community.