Bill shielding PM from investigation may be shelved
Proposed 'French Bill' preventing investigation into affairs of sitting PM may be shelved before vote due to Kulanu’s resistance, AG Mandelblit's expected objections, citing equality before the law.
Despite a myriad of preliminary discussions, debates and preparations over the past few months, the "French Bill"—intended to prevent criminal investigation from commencing against a sitting prime minister—may be shelved before making it to a vote.
The proposed bill was originally submitted by Chairman of the Knesset's Internal Affairs Committee MK David "Dudi" Amsalem (Likud), long considered to be a loyalist of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
However, following talks that have been held in the past few days between heads of the coalition parties, a consensus appears to be forming around the belief the proposed bill is problematic on several levels.
Firstly, since it would be an amendment to a Basic Law, all parties in the coalition would be required to agree to it.
Soliciting the consent of the Kulanu party—headed by Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon—would potentially prove an insurmountable stumbling block since it currently stands in opposition to the proposal.
No less significantly, a second reason is Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit's pointed objection to the bill. According to a senior legal source Mandleblit's veto alone would suffice to quash the bill in its infancy.
The attorney general's legal opinion, as Israel's foremost legal authority, carries notable weight particularly since the bill risks, according to its detractors, placing the prime minister above the law and undermining the concept of equality in the eyes of Israeli law.
The source further described the bill as unnecessary in any case, since any decision made by either the police of State Attorney's Office, no matter how small, is scrutinized by the attorney general, weighed and deliberated and only then decided upon, by the attorney general himself.
The legal source also assumed the public hullabaloo around the proposed bill caused certain elements in Netanyahu's inner circle to backtrack on their proposal. In any event, if the law was to be enacted, it would only enter into force after the next elections.
The source concluded by cautioning that freezing such investigations into alleged wrongdoing by senior public figures may well disrupt them altogether, as the passage of time may cause witnesses to hold their peace, evidence to disappear and suspects to coordinate their testimonies with one another.
