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Opinion | Ethics Committee is the Order of the Hour Israel today

2021-11-14T22:02:57.648Z


Precisely in the current Knesset, where the level of insults has broken records, it is important to place a deterrent that will impose significant punishments on those who allow themselves to be rude. • Chairman Miki Levy must act immediately


Knesset Speaker Miki Levy must immediately establish an ethics committee in the Knesset. A situation in which seven months after the 24th Knesset was convened has not yet been established - which is supposed to monitor the behavior of MKs and impose penalties on those who despise the legislature - is intolerable.

Since 1981, when the Ethics Committee was first established, no similar situation has arisen where the Committee was not established immediately after the inauguration of the MKs.

It is no coincidence that the law stipulates that the composition of the four-member Knesset committee will be determined exclusively by the Speaker of the Knesset, and will be represented in the coalition and the opposition.

Throughout the years, there has been a strict adherence to the Speakers of the Knesset appointing clean-handed Knesset members who have never been flawed.

In the current Knesset, the ethics committee has not yet been established due to a dispute between the factions over representation on the committees.

Chairman Levy had already approached several MKs and offered them to join the committee, but opposition representatives informed him that they would not give their consent to the appointment until the crisis was resolved.

Especially in the current Knesset, where the level of insults has broken new records and the Hebrew language is being disgraced in the morning news, it is important to place a deterrent that will impose significant penalties on those who allow themselves to be rude.

There is no justification for elected officials to use expressions such as "fascist", "anti-Semitic", "this garbage", "Israeli oppressor who represents terrorists and murderers", "thug" "violent", "you need hospitalization", "you are ashamed of the Knesset", "you Floor rag "- will not come for their punishment.

They allow themselves to talk like that because they know there is no enforcement that will impose penalties on them.

The Knesset Ethics Committee has a wide range of punitive measures at its disposal, from reprimand and reprimand to removal from the debates.

The committee may ban MKs from participating in debates for one day, but also for a week and in severe cases even for six months (this sentence was imposed on former MKs Oren Hazan from the Likud and Hanin Zoabi from Balad). During these six months, bills were not allowed. Proposals for an order, and did not participate in the discussions but only in the votes.

As someone who has followed the ethics committee's deliberations and decisions for 30 years, I have no doubt that the punishments it inflicts on the rioting MKs are very effective. Their work.

The statements made last week by several MKs from the Likud, such as Orly Levy-Abaxis and Kati Sheetrit, against the establishment of an ethics committee - on the grounds that it will act against MKs from the opposition - further emphasize the need for its establishment.

Chairman Levy, who has stated that he is "working tirelessly" for it to be established, must remember that as long as the committee does not exist - this is an explicit disregard for the law.

Levy must find a creative solution, such as changing the Knesset's bylaws, which will allow in special cases to establish an ethics committee composed of former MKs. What is certain is that the waiting time is over - so it is not possible to continue.

Source: israelhayom

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