Bennett slams Liberman for weakness as ministers to vote on expulsion bill

MK Moti Yogev says legal system too slow on punishing terrorists.

By GIL HOFFMAN
Updated: NOVEMBER 4, 2018 13:49
MKs voting in favor of the Pay for Slay bill Wednesday at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee June 27, 2018 (photo credit: COURTESY AVI DICHTER'S OFFICE)
MKs voting in favor of the Pay for Slay bill Wednesday at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee June 27, 2018
(photo credit: COURTESY AVI DICHTER'S OFFICE)
The Ministerial Committee on Legislation will vote Sunday on a controversial bill that would allow the IDF to expel family members of terrorists from their region of the West Bank to another within a week of the attack.
The bill, sponsored by Bayit Yehudi MK Moti Yogev and initiated by party leader Naftali Bennett, is intended to add a deterrent that could prevent future attacks.
“Palestinian terror must be stopped,” Bennett said. “Taking part in a terror attack against Jews currently pays for terrorists and their families. They murder and win benefits and grants. Palestinian terrorists must understand that violence does not pay.”
"What Liberman is not prepared to do from the Defense Ministry, we will do today through legislation," Bennett added in a statement later Sunday. "Over the past two years Liberman has destroyed Israel's deterrent. Terrorists are not afraid. They know that their homes will not be demolished, that their families will received 12,000 shekels a month and that they will be honored as martyrs."
"Today we will bring to a vote the law deporting terrorists so that they are afraid again," Bennett said.
Yogev said such a bill was necessary because the legal system with terrorists works too slowly, especially when it comes to punishing them.
The current law only permits expelling family members of terrorists if they present a clear and present danger to the public, which is hard to prove. Yogev’s bill would add deterrence as a criteria to permit expulsions.
“The bill could diminish the number of attacks and save lives,” Yogev said.
It was still unclear Saturday night whether the Ministerial Committee on Legislation would vote Sunday on Bennett’s proposal to enable overriding Supreme Court decisions preventing the expulsion of migrant workers. A decision will be made during Sunday morning’s weekly meeting of coalition party heads before the committee meets.
Another Bayit Yehudi-sponsored bill that will come to the committee on Sunday would remove tax breaks for parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. The bill, which is co-sponsored by Bayit Yehudi faction head Shuli Moalem-Refaeli and Zionist Union faction head Yoel Hasson, is expected to advance due in part to last week’s death of an unvaccinated child from the measles.
The Health Ministry supports the bill.


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