Bill would let police probe suspected incitement to terrorism without State Attorney’s okay
Critics of proposed legislation fear freedom of speech may be constricted, express concern over ‘politicized’ police investigations
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Legislation allowing the Israel Police to open investigations on suspicion of incitement to terrorism without the approval of the State Attorney’s Office is being advanced in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, raising concern among civil rights groups and opposition MKs over restrictions on freedom of speech.
Investigations of suspected offenses of this kind currently require the approval of the State Attorney’s Office because of concerns that the right to freedom of expression may be infringed if the police interpret the law too broadly.
In July, State Attorney Amit Aisman stated publicly that his office had encountered several incidents in which the police opened criminal investigations into alleged incitement or other speech offenses without authorization, or by deliberately circumventing the State Attorney Office’s directives.
The clause in the legislation that would allow such police investigations without state attorney authorization was recently introduced to the bill by far-right MK Limor Son Har Melech of the ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party.
The law, if passed, would allow the police to open investigations into incitement to terrorism based on information received through formal complaints “or in any other manner.”
Son Har Melech proposed the new clause as part of a bill that would further tighten the law on incitement to terrorism by prohibiting praise for an individual who committed a terrorist act, rather than just for the act itself.
That bill passed its first reading in the Knesset plenum in July, but Son Har Melech is now seeking to further ramp up its restrictions.
A note to the new version of the legislation said that alternatives to Son Har Melech’s proposal will also be discussed in Tuesday’s committee hearing.
The bill was scheduled for a hearing and debate in committee on Tuesday, but the hearing was canceled late Monday night due to scheduling difficulties for officials in the State Attorney’s Office and the National Security Ministry.
A hearing for the bill is expected to be rescheduled for the coming days.
Committee member MK Gilad Kariv of Labor denounced the legislation, saying it would be used to politically intimidate people, adding that the bill was made even more dangerous due to what he described as the “powerful takeover” of the police by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, the Otzma Yehudit chair.
“Establishing that the police would not need the approval of the State Attorney’s Office to open investigations into incitement to terrorism would lead to endless investigations to muzzle and intimidate [suspects], and political investigations,” said Kariv.
Civil rights groups have repeatedly complained of “political persecution” by the police against Arab citizens of Israel, in particular since the October 7 atrocities by Hamas and the subsequent outbreak of war.
In April, the Adalah organization, which works to protect the civil rights of Arab Israelis and Palestinians under Israeli control, wrote to the attorney general and state attorney urging them to halt what it described as police abuse of the criminal code “as a means of political persecution and suppressing freedom of expression.” Constitution Committee chairman MK Simcha Rothman of the Religious Zionism party defended the bill, however, declaring that incitement to terrorism could not be considered protected speech.
“Incitement to terrorism is the nourishment on which the [Hamas] Nukhba terrorists grew, on which the Gazan masses who saw the hostages and who cheered the kidnappers grew, who went out en masse, youths and elders, to murder, loot, rape and burn in the surrounding towns,” wrote Rothman on X.
“Inciting terrorism is not part of freedom of expression. It is sometimes much more serious than the actual acts of terrorism, because one inciting imam can create thousands of terrorists.
“Zero tolerance for incitement to terrorism! That is the line I have been leading since I was elected to the Knesset, and even more so as the chairman of the committee.”
