Recent polls measuring the nation’s trust in state agencies have shown the IDF remains high on the list of agencies which are still respected and held in high regard. The Knesset on the other hand ranks low and continues to drop in the eyes of Israelis. This case may be yet another reason why Israelis are far from trusting when it comes to the Knesset.

The Knesset Ethics Committee addressed the case of MK Basel Ghattas, who agreed to have his parliamentary immunity lifted, leading to his arrest for his role in smuggling cellular phones and SIM cards to imprisoned terrorists in Israel’s Ketziot Prison.

As a result of the ongoing police investigation against him, he has been banned from Knesset plenum sessions for a half year but he will continue receiving his salary as an elected official.

Ghattas was imprisoned for a number of days and then released to house arrest for six weeks. He was compelled to post NIS 50,000 bail and he is barred from leaving the country for 180 days. He is however permitted to continue participating in votes in Knesset while under house arrest and being investigated for smuggling cellular phones to imprisoned terrorists as per the Knesset Ethics Committee.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)