A dangerous escalation of repression in Israel: Knesset approves first reading of the proposed "Anti-Terrorism Law"
Last night, 2 September 2015, the Israeli Knesset voted to approve the first reading of a proposed new "Anti-Terrorism Law" with 45 votes to 14. The proposed bill substantially expands the scope of the Israeli penal law. Spanning over 100 pages, the bill provides new tools to the Israeli authorities, and incorporates many severe provisions of the Emergency Regulations, which were promulgated during the British Mandate, into Israeli law. The bill is designed to further suppress the struggle of Palestinian citizens of Israel and the pursuit of their political activities in support of Palestinians living under Occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
In Adalah's view, the proposed law defines political activities that are often undertaken by Palestinian citizens of Israel – even humanitarian and cultural activities – as terrorist acts, simply because they oppose the Occupation and support its victims. Adalah added that, "The law substantially strengthens and widens the powers of the police and the General Security Services ("Shabak" or Shin Bet) to suppress any legitimate protest activities against Israeli policies. It also enables the use of 'secret evidence' in order to take preventative measures against these activities, which impedes the possibility of objecting to these repressive decisions based on their merits before the judiciary."
Adalah emphasized that if the new "Anti-Terrorism Law" passes, it would "seriously escalate the level of repression and intimidation targeted against the political activity of Palestinian citizens of Israel through the criminalization of political, cultural and social relationships between them and the rest of the Palestinian people."
