Opposition filibusters recommendations bill
During three-day discussions, opposition lawmakers raise over 1,000 reservations against the controversial bill, which would bar police from publicly releasing its recommendations at the end of criminal investigations.
The discussions on the legislation, which was supposed to go up to a vote on Monday but was postponed to Wednesday night, have paralyzed the Knesset's work, with the legislature's committees canceling meetings.
The first to speak Tuesday was the controversial bill's sponsor and new coalition head David Amsalem (Likud), who attacked "the biggest bluff I've ever encountered, which is happening right now. There is a lie striking to the bone that I can't believe, which started in the media. The entire media, most of it, the leftist media, is lying to the public with your help, and you are lying shamelessly even thought you know the facts."
"He stays in prestigious hotels, takes aides with him, and does all of this at the public's expense. The funding given to parties is public money. I told him before: 'You're calling us corrupt, but the most corrupted person here is you.' Shut up and don't talk," Amsalem raged.
One after the other, opposition members then went up to the podium to speak against the proposed legislation.
Zionist Union MK Stav Shaffir, speaking for over an hour to an almost entirely empty room, said: "A government that favors the strong and the rich, what is it dealing with? Why is it not dealing with the disabled, the elderly, Holocaust survivors, the poor, or people with intellectual disabilities? Why are they only dealing with preserving the job of one man, who has been disconnected from the citizens of Israel for a long time?"
Shaffir called to "get rid of the fear. Let us get rid of the corruption that has taken over this House. Let us get rid of the outdated rules of the game that don't work for the public. I have hope that some people in the coalition will say 'no,' and that this thing ends. It truly is amazing to think that at any given moment the ongoing nightmare of a government that neglects its citizens and a prime minister who is busy thinking of the minor and unimportant all the time can be stopped. Let a brave person from the coalition get up and say 'enough.' Let the country come before politics and personal interests."
MK Dov Khenin (Joint List), argued that while the recommendations bill won't apply to the existing ongoing investigations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, "it is definitely relevant to new cases that have yet to be opened, like in the submarine affair and the Bezeq affair. The legislation will protect Netanyahu in cases 3000 and 4000 and in cases 5000 and 6000 as well, which we don't know of yet. I'm assuming Netanyahu knows of them, otherwise he wouldn't have gotten into such frenzy, leading the entire coalition into a destructive journey to pass the recommendations bill this week, at the expense of all of the other issues the Knesset is supposed to be discussing."
