Tabled: Anti-Defamation Law (Amendment – Compensation without Proof of Damages) tabled by MK Meir Sheetrit (Kadima) on 17 March 2010.
Anti-Defamation Law (Amendment – No Combining of Grounds or Adding Legal Remedies) tabled by MK Yariv Levin (Likud), Zevulun Orlev (Habayit Hayehudi), Anastasia Michaeli (Yisrael Beitenu), and Israel Hasson (Kadima) on 21 July 2010.
These were two separate proposed amendments to the Anti-Defamation Law: (Amendment – Compensation without Proof of Damages) and (Amendment – No Combining of Grounds or Adding Legal Remedies), which were later united into one proposed bill. The common element in these two pieces of legislation is that they both seek to dramatically raise the amount of punitive compensation for libel, without proof of actual damage.
The first bill – tabled by MK Yariv Levin (Likud) et al., authorizes the court to order those who have published libel, including media outlets, to pay punitive damages of NIS 300,000 even without proof of damages – instead of NIS 50,000 as is the amount in current Israeli law. The bill further stipulates that if the plaintiff has shown that the libel was published with intent to harm, the court may order punitive damages of NIS 600,000. The bill also requires the publisher to publish the plaintiff’s response to the publication, and if an appropriate option to respond was not granted – the court may order compensation of up to NIS 1.5 million without proof of damages.
The second bill, tabled by MK Meir Sheetrit (Kadima), sets the amount of compensation without proof of damages at NIS 500,000 – instead of the current NIS 50,000 stipulated by the law. On 27 March 2011, the Ministerial Committee on Legislation decided to support MK Levin’s bill; the two bills were then united into one proposed bill by the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee on 10 October 2011, and approved for first reading. Due to harsh criticism the bill has raised in the Knesset, the first reading scheduled for 7 November 2011 was postponed.
From the explanatory notes to the legislation and from explanations proffered in the Knesset by their sponsors, the purpose of these bills is to “punish” those who speak slander, with a special focus on the press. These explanatory notes make no real attempt to define the problem they are attempting to solve with this legislation. They make no claim, nor do they present any evidence that the courts have failed to award appropriate libel compensation matching the nature of the offense. Rather, all indications are that freedom of expression has currently taken a hit in light of SLAPP lawsuits, slander, and libel suits with weak or no factual basis. If the proposed legislation will pass, it would have a further chilling effect on freedom of speech, principally affecting the ability of journalists to report and express their opinions impartially.
ACRI is opposed to these amendments, due to the fact that they infringe on freedom of expression and freedom of the press for the benefit of possibly unfounded lawsuits.
17 March and 21 July 2010: Bills presented in the Knesset.
27 March 2011: The Ministerial Committee on Legislation votes to support MK Levin’s bill.
10 October 2011: Bills united and approved for first reading by the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee.
21 November 2011: Bill passed its first reading in the plenum.
Status: Passed its first reading
