The "Gifts Law" which enables government officials to receive donations in order to cover their medical and legal fees, and is intended to free the approximately NIS 4 million that was raised via crowdfunding for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's legal fees, opens the door to corruption in the entire public service, a representative of the Attorney General said during a debate regarding the law in the Knesset's Home Committee.
According to Oren Funo, head of the justice ministry's Legal Counsel and Legislative Affairs Division, who presented the A-G's opinion, the bill would create a mechanism that can be "taken advantage of in order to cover up corruption crimes."
"A public worker already can accept gifts from friends and family, including funding for medical and legal fees, as long as they are not given to him due to his role as a public worker."
Oren Funo
"A public worker already can accept gifts from friends and family, including funding for medical and legal fees, as long as they are not given to him due to his role as a public worker. The speed at which this law is advancing raises the concern that it is intended to benefit the prime minister personally. If the bill is accepted, we will find ourselves in a jungle of government corruption," Funo said.
The bill is being prepared for its first reading on the Knesset floor and is likely to pass its first reading this week.
The Knesset's legal counsel, Sagit Afek, made similar comments on Sunday.
"Even after welcome changes, this bill still constitutes a deviation from maintaining the integrity [of public servants]," Afek said in the committee.
"The proposal can create a built-in conflict-of-interest and the consequences regarding favors [to politicians] and possible damage to public trust. Part of the solution may be to make these changes apply in the future, beginning in the next Knesset."
Bill enables contributions to medical, legal fees
The bill also enables contributions to medical and legal fees of public servants' families. This "escalation of conflict of interests and violating the balance between the different interests" is a "breach in the fortified wall that the legislature fenced off in order [to maintain] public trust."
A different Knesset committee, which was set up specially to institute two amendments to Basic Law: The Government, continued on Sunday to prepare what is known as the "Deri Law" for its second and third readings on the Knesset floor. The law blocks the High Court from intervening in a prime minister's appointment of ministers, and thus would enable Netanyahu to reappoint Shas chairman MK Arye Deri as health and interior minister, after the High Court struck down the appointment in January due to its "extreme unreasonableness."
The second amendment to Basic Law: The Government, known as the "Incapacitation Law," was passed into law last week. It blocked the option for Israel's attorney-general to announce a prime minister incapable of fulfilling his role due to conflicts of interest.