Israel Netanyahu Criminal Charges Bill Repeal
- Coalition lawmakers announced Monday that they are advancing a bill to repeal the crime of fraud and breach of trust - a charge that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu...
- The bill is the latest in a series of attempts by the coalition to deflate or outright scrap the prime minister's long-running trial.
- The bill also represents another front in the years-long effort by the right-wing government to weaken the judiciary.
Coalition lawmakers announced Monday that they are advancing a bill to repeal the crime of fraud and breach of trust – a charge that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces in all three of his ongoing corruption cases.
The bill is the latest in a series of attempts by the coalition to deflate or outright scrap the prime minister’s long-running trial. He is charged with fraud and breach of trust in three cases and bribery in one of them. He denies all wrongdoing.
The bill also represents another front in the years-long effort by the right-wing government to weaken the judiciary.
Opposition leaders decried the bill as an act of ”war” meant to allow the prime minister to evade justice. The bill’s sponsors argue that the charge of fraud and breach of trust is vague and superfluous. They propose trashing it while more precisely delineating other types of corruption offenses.
The bill is expected to be discussed at a meeting of the Ministerial committee for Legislation next week before advancing to its first vote in the Knesset. The sponsors of the bill are Knesset Constitution, Law and justice Committee chair Simcha Rothman, a far-right Religious zionism MK, coalition whip Ofir Katz of Likud, and New Hope MK Mishel Buskila.
They said that the offense “severely harms the principle of legality and the foundations of criminal law.” They also claimed it is indeed redundant as Israel already has other laws that address corruption,including prohibitions on bribery and money laundering.
They added that breach of trust is a ”vague offense” that has been “sharply criticized by legal experts from across the political spectrum.” They alleged, without evidence, that the charge has been used by the law enforcement system to “police elected officials and public servants for conduct that is not defined as a crime under the Penal Code, and can retroactively determine what is considered criminal at their discretion.”
The text of the bill does not specify whether,if passed,it would apply retroactively to charges brought before its enactment,such as those against Netanyahu. It would also establish “clear offenses that currently have no adequate definition in law,” including conflicts
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