The Ministerial Committee on Legislation unanimously approved a proposed bill submitted by Likud MK Keren Bark to allow the usage of electronic tagging in cases of domestic abuse when the abusive person is the subject of a restraining order on Sunday.
"Electronic tagging" means that the offender is required to wear an electronic bracelet at all times. If he or she violates the restraining order the bracelet sends an alarm to local police units and the person is arrested.
Immigration and Absorption Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata called violence against women “a plague the government must fight with all its power.”
She added that “today another woman was murdered” and called the electronic tagging “meaningful and another tool in this fight.”
Roan al-Katnani died at Soroka Medical Center on Sunday after her husband allegedly beat her so hard the blows she suffered to the head led to brain death. She was 29 years old and pregnant - the fetus did not survive. Her husband was arrested in an operation commanded by Rahat police station chief and is awaiting trial.
WIZO chairwoman Anita Friedman supported the decision and said it will turn the “toothless” restraining order into “an effective tool of protection while maintaining the woman’s freedom and ability to remain in her own space and not be sent to a shelter for abused women.”
She added that while this is a positive measure, the state must also invest in education and prevention. She called for the full implementation of an existing nationwide program to prevent violence against women.
The Ministerial Committee on Legislation controls which bills are presented to the Knesset to be voted on and which are rejected. The committee is under no obligation to reveal how the ministers vote, its debates or its reasoning for voting a certainway.