By a vote of 45-14, the Knesset passed the first reading of a controversial counterterrorism bill overnight Thursday, September 3. The bill significantly broadens the definition of “terrorism” and what constitutes a “terrorist organization” while simultaneously toughening punishments for such acts.
The Zionist Union, the main opposition party, voted in support of the bill which the Communist Party of Israel (CPI) and Hadash have condemned as anti-democratic. If it were to become law following three readings, the legislation would significantly increase the authority of the right-wing government by authorizing it to prosecute an individual or organization undertaking or supporting virtually any act directed against Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.
The bill aggregates all existing counterterrorism legislation into a single law, while at the same time making various additions and updates. If it passes, some existing counterterrorism laws dating back to the pre-state Mandatory Period and legislated during Britain’s imperialist rule of Palestine would finally be repealed. However, among its draconian additions, the bill stipulates a three-year prison sentence for those expressing public support for “terrorist groups,” equates the punishment of those found guilty of aiding terror with that of persons convicted of actually performing terrorist acts, and raises the maximum sentence for terror-related crimes to 30 years.
Hadash MK Dov Khenin (Joint List) who vehemently opposes the bill and has termed some of its provisions “fascistic,” said “there was a need to destroy the factory which creates the motivation for terror, and that is the occupation. There is an occupation and from it is derived the right of the occupied people to struggle for their liberty. At times, these turn into acts of violence. The state of violence will continue; for it to stop the Palestinian people must be freed from the occupation.”
Adalah, the Legal Center for the Arab Minority in Israel, commented that “the law substantially strengthens and broadens the powers of the police and the General Security Services (‘Shabak’) to suppress any legitimate protest activities against Israeli policies. It also legitimizes the use of ‘secret evidence’ in order to take preventative measures against these activities, thereby impeding the possibility of objecting before the judiciary to such repressive measures.” Adalah emphasized that if the new “Anti-Terrorism Law” passes, it would “seriously escalate the level of repression and intimidation targeted against the political activity of Palestinian citizens of Israel through the criminalization of political, cultural and social relationships between them and the rest of the Palestinian people.”
The extreme-right government first proposed such a bill almost five years ago, but it was repeatedly held up in the Knesset’s Committee for Constitution, Law and Justice. Following Thursday night’s passage, the new version of the bill now moves back to that committee for rewording before being brought for it’s a second and third reading before the Knesset.
