The Ynet website reveals that Knesset member Dodi Amsalem submitted a bill in the style of the “French law” that has been talked about for years in the political system. MK Dodi Amsalem placed the bill on the Knesset table, similar to the proposal he already placed in 2017.
The “French” bill states that the government’s basic law will be amended by a proposed amendment to the law called: “Amendment – Prohibition of a criminal investigation against the prime minister during his term of office.” This amendment will state that the Attorney General will not authorize the opening of an investigation with a warning against a sitting Prime Minister, except in cases where serious offenses in the areas of sex, violence, security or drug offenses are involved. Or if the postponement of the investigation could cause significant security or financial damage.
This amendment, which is under the constitution of the government, will not be able to pass judicial review by the courts in accordance with the changes in the Judiciary Law as part of the planned reform in the coalition. So that the Supreme Court will not be able to deal with the amendment to the law and even if it deals with the proposed bill, its determination regarding fundamental laws lacks authority and is not valid.
In the explanation of the proposed amendment to the law, Amsalam offers the point of view from which he decided that this amendment to the Basic Law is necessary: ”The Prime Minister of Israel is one of the most complex positions. He must make fateful decisions on issues that affect the entire public, including political, security, economic and social moves. Therefore, he must be entirely focused on engaging in these matters.”
Knesset member Amsalem continued and detailed that: “In recent years, there have been several cases in which prime ministers were preoccupied with investigations opened against them for various offenses, sometimes even in matters that occurred even before they began serving. To avoid this, it is proposed to establish that, as a rule, the prime minister will be investigated with a warning during his term of office “
Amsalem added and stated that the rule also has an exception: “This principle will have two caveats. First, it will be possible to investigate him for security, violence, sex or drug offenses, which are particularly serious offenses. Second, he will be able to be investigated for other offenses as well if the avoidance of investigation During the term of office, it may cause security damage or significant economic damage, and therefore there is urgency in its existence during the office as well.”
In addition to this, Amsalem asserts, the proposal does not at all absolve a prime minister from the threat of the law because this law is only valid for the duration of his term of office: “The term of office of the prime minister will not count towards the statute of limitations for the offense, and thus he can be investigated in this matter after the end of his term of office” he made a caveat in his proposal.
It should be noted that this is not the first time that Member of Knesset Amsalem has proposed a bill similar to this one, already in 2016 he proposed a similar proposal and also during 2017, but these proposals did not mature into legislative procedures.
It is important to say that despite the cynical tone surrounding the discussion of the “French” law that would prevent investigations of a prime minister during his term of office, which implies that everything stems from Netanyahu’s investigations, many sources have argued over the years that there is a difficulty in this because almost every prime minister in recent decades (with the exception of Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett) faced some which is an investigation or legal entanglement that has narrowed his steps.
Among these factors was even the current chairman of the opposition, Yair Lapid, who in his time as a journalist wrote a column called “Hakirocracy” in which one of the solutions he offers to the growing entanglement between the conduct of the law enforcement system and the functioning of the government, very similar to Amsalem’s proposal that it should be stipulated in the law that it will not be possible to investigate A prime minister during his tenure and similarly to Amsalem proposed reservations for serious offenses such as rape and murder.