Bitan to promote law forbidding covert conversation recording
Speaking at Shabatarbut event in Holon, MK David Bitan says he'll be promoting law forbidding secret recording of conversations in the Knesset next week; law will not apply to existing investigations, Bitan clarifies, saying, 'Media loves recording people. It has to stop'; police retirees interrupt panel, demanding higher pensions; 'I don't have to listen to you,' Bitan retorts.
Coalition Chairman MK David Bitan (Likud) spoke at a Shabatarbut event in Holon Saturday in which he said he'll be submitting a bill forbidding to record conversations without the other party's knowledge this coming week.
"It's been spreading like the plague," Bitan said, before clarifying the bill will not apply to existing cases.
"The issue of recordings has become a national calamity. The media loves recording people all the time. I think it has to be dealt with. Husbands don't even talk to their wives anymore for fear they'll be recorded for legal proceedings 20 years down the line. We have to make it stop. Recording only with prior approval, and then recordings made in secret cannot be admitted as evidence," Bitan explained.
Bitan said the bill will be submitted this week. "I said it a year ago. It isn't new, but I stopped concerning myself with it due to Case 2,000, in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—or someone acting on his behalf—recorded (Yedioth Ahronoth owner and published Arnon) Mozes. I said I didn't want the appearance of the two things being related. The Case 2,000 investigation has already concluded, so now I can submit the bill," Bitan added.
During the Holon event, Bitan was confronted by police retirees who were present in the audience. The retirees are demanding their pensions be equated with the wages of standing army personnel.
"With all due respect, I don't have to listen to you," Bitan said onstage as some of the audience members started shouting at him. The event was then stopped for several minutes as ushers removed the retirees from the auditorium, bringing the event's host journalist Nechama Duek to threaten she'll call the police herself.
Bitan went on to speak about possible peace talks with the Palestinians. "The other side's definitions are, of course, very important since they won't recognize (Israel as) a Jewish state, they won't recognize anything and want all of the territory all the way to the sea," he said.
"I'd like to remind you MK Haneen Zoabi's speech abroad, where she said she's in favor of two states: one Palestinian state and one a state of all its citizens. This means that any agreement with them—both Israeli Arabs and the Palestinians—must include recognition of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. But first and foremost, a Jewish state. That's the most important thing in any peace agreement and many others matters in the future," Bitan affirmed.
Arnon Mozes is the publisher and owner of Yedioth Ahronoth Group, which includes Ynet.
