Likud bill protects Netanyahu from minor criminal probes

An Israeli Member of the Knesset is proposing a bill to protect the country’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from criminal investigations into minor offenses, YnetNews reported today.

Likud MK David Amsalem wrote on Facebook: “My bill proposes that a criminal investigation will not be opened against the prime minister for offenses punishable by up to six months in prison.”

“The prime minister in Israel holds the most important position. He must make crucial decisions on issues that affect the entire public: diplomatic, security, economic and social decisions. He cannot be kept busy almost every day with investigations. I do not know of one other democratic nations in the world whose prime minister is so frequently ‘starring’ in investigations and affairs of all kinds.”

Amsalem denied any connection between the ongoing investigations on Netnayahu and the bill. He also noted that most former Israeli prime ministers were investigated for criminal offenses.

“Over the past 30 years, there has not been one prime minister who has not been busy with investigations,” he said, “Rabin and his wife’s foreign currency, Barak and the NGOs, Sharon and the Greek island affair, Olmert and his travels, Netanyahu and the gifts he got and the recycling of bottles at the prime minister’s residence, and more.”

MK Itzik Shmuly from the Zionist Union criticised Amsalem’s proposal, saying: “This is a new level of disrespect to the public and undermining of the rule of law. The Likud has crossed another red line today on its way to turning Israel into a monarchy.”