Israel’s Knesset approves controversial bill over police authority

ByNews Desk- The Cradle 

Legal experts have pushed back on the bill, saying it doesn't provide a sufficient balance between police independence and the authority of the minister

MK Itamar Ben Gvir leads a march of extremist Israelis through Jerusalem’s Old City, 20 April, 2022. (Photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

Israel’s Knesset passed a controversial law on 28 December to grant far-right leader Itamar Ben Gvir sweeping powers over the Police, part of a coalition deal that will allow Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu to return to the office.

The law, which received 61 votes in favor and 55 against, amends existing regulations and stresses that the Government has “authority” over the Police while putting Ben Gvir, who will be appointed National Security Minister, in charge of the force on behalf of the executive, Israeli outlet Haaretz reported.

The Israeli national security minister will be able to develop a police policy thanks to the so-called “Ben-Gvir bill,” but the police commissioner will still be in charge of the organization.

“We have made history,” said Ben Gvir, who added, “the correction to the law that we brought is a blessing for democracy. Only in police states does the police commissioner work on his own,”  according to Haaretz.

Meanwhile, Benjamin Netanyahu’s incoming far-right Israeli government placed occupied West Bank settlement expansion at the top of its list of priorities, promising to annex the occupied territory as one of the priority items in its coalition agreement with ultra-nationalist allies.

The first of the new administration’s policy objectives, which was announced by Netanyahu’s Likud party, states that the country will “advance and promote settlement in all regions of the territory of Israel – in the Galilee, Negev, Golan Heights, and Judea and Samaria.”

The Likud party statement also refers to calls by his far-right partners to give the security forces greater leeway in using force in the occupied West Bank.

Meanwhile, Israeli authorities ratified plans to construct hundreds of new settler units in the occupied central West Bank last month, despite pushback from the international and Palestinian communities, according to the Palestinian Information Center (PIC).

Local reports disclosed that the units would be constructed in the Efrat settlement, which entails the illegal displacement of hundreds of Palestinians in the south of the city of Bethlehem.

PIC reports added that the construction plan includes the establishment of the new settlement, which will have 7,000 units in Bethlehem.

Over the past couple of years, Israel has violated international law by building dozens of Jewish settlements. Around 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank settlements, which house roughly 500,000 unauthorized Israeli settlers.