Israeli plan to jail anyone filming soldiers in the West Bank hits legal wall
Attorney general says new legislation that outlaws documenting soldiers is unconstitutional; government to vote on bill anyway
Jonathan LisSendSend me email alerts
Jun 17, 2018 12:51 PM
▻https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israeli-plan-to-jail-anyone-filming-soldiers-hit-legal-wall-1.6179262
The present version of the proposed law to ban the filming of Israeli soldiers carrying out their duties is problematic from a constitutional standpoint, so much so that it may not be able to be enacted into law, said Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit.
The bill will be brought on Sunday for approval of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, which would give it official government backing.
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The committee is expected to approve the bill in its present form, after which it will go to the full Knesset for its preliminary vote. The bill is expected to pass this reading too.
But a senior politician in the government coalition told Haaretz that an agreement has been reached with MK Robert Ilatov (Yisrael Beitenu), the sponsor of the bill, that after the bill passes its preliminary vote in the Knesset, it will be changed significantly in committee. The new version will ban interfering with IDF soldiers carrying out their duties and not a full ban on filming and documentation, a change that could pass constitutional muster.