The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on Tuesday began deliberations ahead of the second and third reading of a bill to enshrine in law government powers to fight the coronavirus pandemic, including the sanctioning of people in violations of quarantine and penalties for failure to wear a mask.
The three-month period allowed by law for emergency regulations expired on Monday meaning that at present, there is no legal enforcement of regulations prohibiting or restricting social gatherings, quarantine measures, temperature checks at the entrance to public spaces and stores and the wearing of face masks.
As a result, the Knesset was to vote Tuesday to extend the emergency regulations, pending the passage of the legislation.
The chair of the committee, Yaakov Asher of United Torah Judaism, said he did not table deliberations to prepare the draft bill for its second and third Knesset readings due to the late hour Monday and the fact that no members were present, even though the three-month period was about to elapse.
"There is a reason the legislature ruled the regulations cannot be extended beyond three months without legislation being passed here in the Knesset,” said Asher. “It is our duty to prepare the groundwork for such an emergency."
4 View gallery
MK Yaakov Asher, the chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee
(Photo: Avi Moalem)
Asher said the emergency regulations would be extended on Tuesday, while the committee would begin making the relevant adjustments to the legislation, which would mean a delay in the vote.
“We won't be able to go over the entire law today, but we will try to fix as many things as possible,” he said.
Other members of the committee were critical of the scheduling of hearings so late at night, and only after the Knesset passed the so-called Norwegian Law allowing members of the cabinet to resign from the Knesset clearing the way for other party members to be sworn in.
MK Yoav Segalovich from the opposition Yesh Atid party also slammed members of the government for being absent after the Norwegian Law was voted in.
"A government that wants to pass a law can stand up and defend it. These laws touch upon the most basic of rights, and there was no representative of the coalition here,” he said.
4 View gallery
Checking temperatures at the entrance to Tel Aviv's Carmel Market
(Photo: Moti Kimchi)
“According to the proposed bill, a police officer or municipality-appointed security officer may enter a place of residence for the purpose of supervising people ordered into quarantine and to impose fines,” Segalovich said.
"Entry into a person's private home when there is no suspicion of a crime and no warrant? I ask government representatives to tell me how many incidents they are aware of in which this clause in the bill was used? This is insanity," he said.
Fellow Yesh Atid MK Mickey Levy also lashed out at government members, specifically Blue & White.
The party, he said, had purportedly entered the coalition to help in the fight against the coronavirus, "and now the coronavirus law doesn't interest them."
Israel Police and municipal authorities say they had not enforced Health Ministry coronavirus directives Tuesday after the emergency regulations under which they were authorized had expired.
First published: 21:36, 06.16.20