Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal News Blogs -> JURIST - The Paper Chase

Legal News

: JURIST - The Paper Chase

Israel parliament considers criminalizing anti-Israeli statements

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The Knesset, Israel's parliament, on Wednesday approved 47-34 the preliminary reading of a bill that would punish public statements likely to "cause an act of hatred, scorn or disloyalty to the state" with one year in prison. Introduced by MK Zevulun Orlev of the Habayit Hayehudi party, the bill is aimed at criminalizing public statements that could threaten the Jewish and democratic nature of the country. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) called the measure "draconian," saying that the measure is one that "delegitimizes legitimate public debate, and whose goal is to silence free debate on important questions." The measure is the latest in a series of controversial bills introduced by conservative members of the Knesset. ACRI also criticized a bill introduced by Israel Beytenu MK Alex Miller and passed by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday that would criminalize marking Israeli Independence Day as a day of mourning, a practice known as Nakba. Israel Beytenu also introduced a bill Sunday that would require all first-time ID card recipients to pledge a loyalty oath to a "Jewish, Zionist, and democratic" Israel. Abe Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, in an interview with the New York Jewish Week, said that the proposals were discriminatory.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on May 28, 2009 (boomark / email).