MK (Likud) David Amsellem is under fire for initiating a bill that would prohibit launching an investigation against a ruling Prime Minister for alleged petty crimes, crimes that do not carry a jail term of over 6 months imprisonment. In his Facebook post, Amsellem adds PM Netanyahu was not aware of his intentions to release the bill as PM Binyamin Netanyahu is under investigation in a number of such cases.

Amsellem insists he did this on his own without the prior knowledge of PM Netanyahu. He explains over the past 30 years there was not a single Prime Minister who was not too busy with such investigations, which detract from his responsibilities of running the nation. This includes PMs Yitzchak Rabin, Ehud Barak, Ehud Olmert, and Arik Sharon.

Realizing that if a Prime Minister may be guilty, the bill also includes a clause that the statute of limitations would not apply to crimes committed by a Prime Minister so an investigation can be placed on hold until a Prime Minister is out of office.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)