Knesset Roundup | June 11

Price Tag Attacks

Price Tag Activities – A New Plan 

Internal Affairs and Environment Committee

Tuesday 11/06/2013 | Committee Discussion

ACRI’s Position: ACRI has worked for many years to increase the protection provided to Palestinians against Israeli violence against their property and has promoted effective law enforcement of crimes against them as part of this effort. Serious and frequent violent attacks against property and people have been occurring often over the last few years, as part of what is known as “price tag” attacks. This violence is motivated by ideology and politics and not a simple dispute among neighbors. As a result, this violence is not expected to disappear. On the contrary, there is a real fear that it will increase during tense periods of political and security uncertainty.
 
In the lead up to the committee discussion, Attorney Tamar Feldman, Director of ACRI’s Human Rights in the Occupied Territories Department, sent a letter to committee members stressing that incidents of violence directed at Palestinians, destruction of their trees, and damage to their property are not new phenomena and that the places and times of their occurrence are well known by the security establishment. On numerous occasions ACRI has demanded that the Commander of IDF forces in Judea and Samaria provide appropriate responses to this violence, particularly in known regions of friction. We are aware of and welcome the fact that security forces are now investing considerable efforts in combating this phenomenon and enforcing the law. Yet given the protracted neglect in this area which has allowed this phenomenon to take root, the mobilization of the entire defense establishment is required to eradicate this violence..

Silencing Criticism of the IDF

Amendment to Anti-Defamation Law (Defamation of IDF Soldiers) – 2013

Constitution, Law and Justice Committee

Thursday, 11/06/2013 | Preparation for First Reading

ACRI’s Position: This bill is a reaction to the 2002 film directed by Mohammed Bakri and a Supreme Court decision that rejected a defamation suit filed against Mr. Bakri by a group of soldiers who served in Jenin. According to the bill’s explanatory notes, the proposed amendment to the public defamation law is necessary in order to prevent “serious harm caused to IDF combat soldiers who are left without any possibility to defend their good names.” But in Jenin Jenin, the Supreme Court reached the conclusion that the film’s defamation of a “group of combat soldiers” did not defame any of the soldiers personally.
 
The effect of this law would be that publishing any criticism of the IDF or IDF forces in relation to an operational activity, will enable any soldier involved in the operation to launch a civil lawsuit for defamation, even if his reputation was not harmed. This attempts to take advantage of an accepted limitation to our freedom of expression that is designed to protect the rights of the individual. In fact, according to the explanatory memorandum attached to the proposed amendment, the bill aims to prevent “serious harm suffered by Israel as a result of false accusations directed against” the IDF.
 

The Supreme Court warned in the initial suit in 2002 that the “privatization” of the right to sue for public defamation will encourage baseless claims and have a chilling effect on the debate of important public issues such as the state’s use of military force. The threat and effects of this silencing will be brought to bear not just against publications like Jenin Jenin but also against whomever dares criticize, publish testimony about, or express an opinion on an unjustified use of force.
The bill passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset on 22 May, and is now being brought before the committee in preparation for its first reading.

Superland

Separation of Visiting Days for Jews and Arabs at Superland

Education, Culture and Sports Committee

Monday 03/06/2013 | Committee Discussion

ACRI’s Position: Reports were published in the media last week of a policy at the Superland amusement park complex in Rishon Letzion to offer strictly separate days to Jewish and Arabic schools wishing to bring their students to the complex. The separation of the students according to their nationality seriously undermines their constitutional rights to equality and dignity. ACRI strongly condemns such a policy of separation in granting entry to the amusement park.
 
Beyond the legal prohibition, such separations, whether intentional or not, reinforce stereotypical perceptions that erode the legitimacy of the Arab population in general. It presents Arab students as worthy of entering and enjoying public facilities only separately from their Jewish counterparts, and places them in a negative light. This separation, with all the dangerous and humiliating connotations associated with it, contributes to the reality we live in and ferments hostility and racism towards Arab students.
 
In response to these reports, ACRI wrote to the CEO of Superland’s operators as well as to the Chief of Police of Rishon Letzion calling for an end to this practice.

Raising the Retirement Age for Women

Committee on the Status of Women

Monday 03/06/2013 | Committee Discussion

ACRI’s Position: Whilst women are still suffering from inbuilt discrimination in today’s labor market, raising the retirement age would be extremely harmful and would deny them the ability to obtain pensioners’ rights.
In late June 2011, a public committee that had been established to examine the current retirement age for women issued its report to the government that recommended raising the retirement age to 67. Following a joint campaign by numerous organizations (including ACRI) and Knesset Members from across the political spectrum against this proposal, the committee’s recommendations were not adopted. A number of private members bills were passed that fixed the retirement age for women at 62.
 

Negotiations between the Finance Ministry and the Labor Committee ended in a compromise whereby the retirement age for women would remain constant at 62 until 2017, after which it would be gradually raised unless otherwise determined by the Knesset. On December 26, 2011, this agreement was successfully adopted by the Knesset Plenum. Since then, the subject of raising the retirement age has frequently come up.

In the Spotlight:

Jerusalem Post Editorial: Security Needs vs. Democratic Rights

Monday, June 10

“The Association for Civil Rights in Israel has called the [Counter-Terrorism] bill “draconian,” because it gives broad powers to the executive branch of the government to pursue “terrorists” without a trial.”
 

“[T]here are … aspects of the bill which should … worry Israelis who value basic democratic rights. For instance, the bill, if passed, would anchor in law administrative arrests, house arrests or other restrictions on movement that can be imposed without a trial. The bill also permits the use of classified, undisclosed information as evidence against defendants and expands the definition of “terror organization” to include, among others, those responsible for “price tag” actions.”
 

“Around the world democracies are struggling to defend themselves against terrorism without at the same time undermining the very freedoms which they value and which they are willing to fight to protect. Only through lively public debate and careful deliberation is it possible to strike the right balance. The present controversy over the NSA provides a perfect opportunity to reevaluate our own counter-terrorism policies and laws.”
 

To read ACRI’s position paper on this dangerous and undemocratic bill, click here.