Power must be returned to the legislature, MK Shaked says

Knesset caucus discusses aftermath of High Court cancellation of anti-migration law.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Ayelet Shaked 370 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Ayelet Shaked 370
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
The Knesset must give a sharp response to the High Court of Justice for canceling the Law to Prevent Illegal Migration, MK Ayelet Shaked (Bayit Yehudi) said Monday at a meeting of the Knesset Caucus to Return Infiltrators to their Home Countries.
Shaked called for the Knesset to add a clause to Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom that would strengthen the legislature.
The caucus meeting came two weeks after the High Court struck down a law allowing the country to hold African migrants for up to three years without trial. The court panel gave the government 90 days to free the more than 2,000 migrants held in the Saharonim detention center in the Negev, and decide whether their status is that of asylum seekers or illegal immigrants to be deported.
According to Shaked, the Interior Ministry is considering quickly amending the canceled law and removing migrants from cities to an open holding facility, while enforcing the laws forbidding their employment.
Dr. Aviad Bakshi of the Kohelet Policy Forum think tank, said the Knesset could follow the Canadian model and re-legislate a law that was struck down by the courts, but have to renew it every few years. Former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin’s government adopted the model for a law forbidding the import of non-kosher meat, Bakshi added.
“What’s good enough for Rabin and [former Supreme Court president Aharon] Barak is good enough for the 19th Knesset.
All MKs must mobilize as part of the effort to bring back the Knesset’s power in facing the judiciary,” Shaked stated.
South Tel Aviv activist May Golan expressed concern that Supreme Court justices ignored the plight of those living in her neighborhood.
“Yesterday, I went downstairs with an elderly neighbor. She slipped on feces from a migrant who relieved himself in our building, and was knocked unconscious,” Golan recounted. “The situation in south Tel Aviv will lead to anarchy. The residents are in a deep despair. In the end, they’ll take the law into their own hands and there’ll be an Intifada.”
MK Mordechai Yogev (Bayit Yehudi) accused the police of hiding migrant crime statistics, saying he did not receive complete answers when he toured the area with police.
“Israel has had great success curbing human trafficking, which was a result of the authorities pooling their resources. In this case, too, all of the forces need to act together to find a solution,” MK Shuli Moalem-Refaeli (Bayit Yehudi) suggested.