The Sunday bill proposal to allow the Knesset to interfere in criminal proceedings against a prime minister or any sitting minister is “a dangerous opening to allowing political considerations to affect a criminal investigation. This harms the integrity of the criminal process, equality before the law, as well as the independence of the judiciary and the law enforcement system,” the legal advisory wrote in a letter to Justice Minister Yariv Levin.
The bill, proposed in the Ministerial Committee on Legislation, would grant members of Knesset the authority to halt ongoing criminal proceedings, and would chiefly affect the ongoing trial of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It follows a written request last week from several high-ranking ministers to President Isaac Herzog, stressing the societal calamities caused by the trial of Netanyahu and implying that the president should use his power to pardon the prime minister.
A pardon cannot be issued while a criminal process is ongoing and must come at the request of the defendant. The bill was initiated by MK Limor Son Har-Melech (Otzma Yehudit) and states that if at any time after the filing of an indictment, before the verdict is given, “the Knesset Committee may suspend legal proceedings against the prime minister or any minister it deems necessary.”
“Upon submission of such notice, the court shall halt the proceedings in that case,” the proposal text reads.
Critiques of the bill
Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara called it a “personal proposal whose only goal is to absolve the prime minister from the gravity of justice.”
Deputy attorneys-general Avital Sompolinsky and Sharon Afek added that the proposal “joins a series of others aimed at targeting the independence of law enforcement... The proposal is illegal and should be halted.”
There is a clause in criminal law that grants the Attorney-General the power, under specific circumstances, to delay criminal proceedings via a handwritten letter to the court. The proposal is to change this clause to expand this power to the Knesset committee, which the legal advisory wrote is “in itself a political body with an inherent majority... The proposal constitutes elements of a political-sectoral nature that would intervene in a criminal procedure.”
Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 in three cases - 1000, 2000, and 4000 - on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. The trial began in 2020; the prime minister has pleaded not guilty to all three. Bribery is the heaviest of the three.
Once the prosecution concludes, the judges will convene to author a verdict. This is expected to take at least a year to complete.