The proposed immunity bill initiated by MK Zohar was placed on the Knesset table Tuesday morning. The proposal was submitted in the previous Knesset, but was not promoted, and it has now been reintroduced.

The Prime Minister’s Office and Minister Yariv Levin, who heads the coalition negotiating team on behalf of the Likud, declared last week that “the issue of immunity will not be part of the coalition agreements” with the various parties, but MK Zohar promises that he will continue to promote the initiative as a private bill.

The Knesset’s Immunity Law of 1951 (hereafter – the Immunity Law) stated in its original wording that a member of the Knesset shall not be criminally prosecuted for a crime committed while he was a member of the Knesset or before he became a member of the Knesset, but only if his immunity has been lifted to face the charge in question. In accordance with the said section, in order to remove immunity from the Knesset Member, the attorney general has to submit an application to the Knesset Committee on this matter and the Committee’s proposal to lift the immunity will be bought for the approval of the Knesset plenum.

In 2005, the Immunity Law was amended in this context. According to the said amendment, an indictment against a Knesset Member is submitted with the approval of the attorney general, who submits a copy of the indictment to the MK, the Speaker of the Knesset and the Chairman of the House Committee. After the said indictment has been delivered, the MK may within 30 days request that the Knesset, at the suggestion of the House Committee, determine that he will have immunity from criminal proceedings in respect of one of the grounds set forth in the law. It is proposed to restore the legal situation that existed prior to the amendment of the law in 2005 and to determine that in order to indict the MK, the parliamentary immunity must be removed by the Knesset, in accordance with the proposal of the House Committee.

Labor faction chairman MK Itzik Shmuli responded to the bill: “Zohar’s bill is to raise the hand on the rule of law of the state and dismantle the principle that everyone is equal before the law.

“Netanyahu will give them offices and budgets, they will help him turn the Knesset into a fortress for the corrupt. One law for politicians, one law for citizens, they lost not only shame but also the brakes. We will establish a defensive wall in the Knesset and in the streets, and this will not be.”

MK Shelly Yacimovich attacked: “The assumption of the immunity law by MK Mickey Zohar, Netanyahu’s direct emissary, reveals the false camouflage of recent days, and is clear evidence that the ultimate aim of the coalition negotiations is to escape a corrupt prime minister from fear of justice while destroying Israeli democracy.

“Every person who is clean-minded must be enlisted now to save the state from the hands of those who trample it in order to save their skin.”

MK Ofer Cassif of Hadash-Ta’al responded: “The immunity law should be called by the name of the dictator, Netanyahu’s Law. I call on honest public figures from all sides of the political spectrum to oppose public law, today.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)