Ministers back bill denying the PA a path to petition the High Court of Justice

Ministerial Committee for Legislation also backs bills preventing security prisoners from receiving visitors, granting government oversight of television viewership data

Lawmakers and ministers listen to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he addresses the first plenum session of the Knesset’s winter 2024 legislative session, October 28, 2024. (Sam Sokol/Times of Israel)
Lawmakers and ministers listen to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he addresses the first plenum session of the Knesset’s winter 2024 legislative session, October 28, 2024. (Sam Sokol/Times of Israel)

The government on Monday gave its backing to bills allowing the Israel Prison Service to prevent security prisoners from receiving visitors in jail and blocking the Palestinian Authority from bringing suits to Israel’s top court.

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation’s approval means that the government will lend its support to the bills as they go to the Knesset, where each must pass three readings to become law.

The first bill, sponsored by Likud MK Galit Distel Atbaryan, would enable the Israel Prison Service to deny visitation rights to security prisoners affiliated with terrorist organizations that hold Israeli captives.

The current wording excludes visits from both lawyers and representatives of the Red Cross. Additionally, it is proposed that the minister of national security, in consultation with the defense minister, be granted the authority to permit visits for special reasons on an exceptional basis.

The second, proposed by Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman, would deny the PA the right to petition the High Court of Justice.

The language of the bill removes this right from any entity that transfers funds associated with acts of terrorism, which is defined as “rewarding terrorism.” Although Rothman likely did not intend it, the bill could inadvertently undermine the Israeli government’s ability to allocate funds for “young settlement” outposts in the territories, which include individuals identified as Jewish terrorists.

MK Simcha Rothman, chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee. (Noam Moskowitz, Office of the Knesset Spokesperson)

It is one of several measures being pushed by Rothman, including another bill that would prohibit the Public Defender’s Office from providing legal representation to those defined by law as illegal combatants.

In addition, the committee gave the nod to measures redefining what constitutes weapons for legal purposes and granting the government oversight of television ratings data.

The weapons bill, sponsored by Likud MK Shalom Danino, addresses a relatively new phenomenon in Israeli society, in which criminal gangs are acquiring significant stockpiles of weaponry and ammunition.

If passed, it would establish a new felony for individuals found in possession of five or more firearms or 1,000 rounds of ammunition, with a penalty of up to 15 years in prison for the offense.

The definition of weaponry would be broadened to encompass much more than just small arms, such as: M72 LAW (light anti-tank weapons), anti-tank missiles, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), explosive grenades, mortars, machine guns, and explosive drones.

The ratings bill would see the communications minister grant the government oversight of viewership data, allowing the minister of communications to assume control of the currently independent organization that supplies publishers with this information.

It aims to establish “a framework” for measuring TV broadcast viewing figures and force Israel’s various broadcasters to report this data to the agency, including viewers’ age, gender, societal background, and place of residence. It would also compel the broadcasters to display their viewing figures at peak hours.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara attends a farewell ceremony in honor of outgoing police commissioner Kobi Shabtai at the National Police Academy in Beit Shemesh, July 14, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

After the committee backed the bill, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara issued a position paper asserting that it would violate key constitutional principles, including the right to privacy and freedom of the press.

The bill is seen by some critics as designed to benefit the commercial interests of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s favored Channel 14.

The committee met twice, on Sunday evening and Monday morning, to vote on the government’s positions on the bills. The ultra-Orthodox Shas party boycotted the votes to protest the government’s failure to advance a bill exempting yeshiva students from enlistment in the IDF.

“We are abstaining from voting because of the government’s failure to pass laws that are important to Shas in particular and the ultra-Orthodox public in general,” Labor Minister Yoav Ben-Tzur of Shas was quoted as saying in Hebrew media reports.

“We cannot continue as if everything is as usual, when we receive nothing from the government,” he said, adding that his party has not ruled out voting against the coalition in the future.

The committee postponed a vote on another bill aimed at broadening the grounds on which a party or Member of the Knesset can be disqualified from running in elections. It is expected to vote on the measure next week.

According to the current draft of the bill, the initial decision to bar a candidate or party would be made by a political forum rather than the courts, allowing for challenges only after a choice is reached.

Officials during the process of counting the Knesset election absentee ballots at the Central Elections Committee in Jerusalem, March 24, 2021. (Rafi Ben Hakun/GPO)

Additionally, the grounds for disqualification would be expanded so that if a candidate has previously expressed support for terrorism, they may face disqualification, in contrast to the existing requirement of demonstrating a pattern of continuous violations.

During every election campaign, the Central Elections Committee adjudicates petitions filed by the various parties, which regularly include requests to disqualify candidates or parties over allegations that they have incited terrorism.

The committee has accepted a large number of these petitions in the past, which would have barred a handful of Arab Israeli candidates and entire Arab-majority slates as well as several ultra-nationalist Jewish candidates from being able to participate in elections — if not for subsequent rulings by the Supreme Court to overturn those decisions.

Jeremy Sharon and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

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