A bill that would give near-total immunity to members of Knesset from criminal investigations passed a preliminary vote in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday.Israeli law dictates that MKs are immune from acts or statements made as part of their public service. However, law enforcement officials may open criminal investigations and may also indict MKs if approved by the attorney-general. If indicted, MKs may then request that the Knesset award them immunity from standing trial.The bill, authored by Likud MK Tally Gotliv, would block any investigation from opening in the first place, unless a 90-MK supermajority approves it, except for corruption-related charges, which law enforcement would be able to investigate without prior approval.Gotliv proposed the bill after civilian charges were filed against her by protest leader Shikma Bressler, after she revealed in the Knesset that Bressler’s husband worked for the Shin Bet and accused him of playing a part in the October 7 Hamas massacre as part of an attempt to bring down the government.
At the demand of the Knesset’s legal adviser, Gotliv read a statement disclosing her personal interest in the bill.
Notably, the United Right party, which joined the coalition in late September, voted against the bill. It passed, regardless, 57-53. The vote on the bill was supposed to be held on November 27, but was delayed by a week due to United Right’s opposition.
The bill itself
According to the bill’s preamble, “The court has no means to intervene, assess, or determine the scope of a Knesset member’s duties or what is done in the fulfillment of those duties. It is not the court’s role, nor does it have the tools, to decide on the extent of a Knesset member’s functions.“In light of the numerous lawsuits currently filed against Knesset members in an attempt to silence them, and in view of the court rulings discussing the issue of immunity and seeking to diminish its power and importance, this amendment is proposed to clarify the essential importance of immunity for the work of Knesset members.”The attorney-general’s office wrote in a legal opinion in November that the bill proposal “gives almost decisive weight to the freedom of action of Knesset members, while pushing aside significant considerations of equality before the law and the principle of the rule of law. Shifting the balances so fundamentally grants Knesset members significant privileges in criminal or civil proceedings brought against them, which run counter to the purposes underlying the institution of immunity.“The proposed arrangement will effectively prevent the investigation and prosecution of Knesset members and the possibility of filing civil lawsuits against them in a wide range of cases, and will also lead to the disruption of investigative procedures. Thus, the bill turns the institution of immunity into a kind of ‘city of refuge’ for Knesset members. As far as we know, even in comparative terms, this is an unusual and extensive arrangement.“Preventing the enforcement of the law – both criminal, from the investigation stage, and civil – by a mechanism that will, in practice, also apply to cases unrelated to the parliamentary role of Knesset members, essentially creates an unjustified privileged class. This proposed arrangement undermines the fundamental principles of equality before the law, the rule of law, and public trust in the governing system and its elected officials.“The high and exceptional threshold proposed for Knesset approval – 90 Knesset members – also raises the concern of majority tyranny in the Knesset towards the minority, so that law enforcement would be feasible only against the political minority in the Knesset,” the A-G wrote.