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An Israeli government panel voted Sunday to increase the punishments for individuals suspected of aiding militant organizations operating here and abroad or convicted of carrying out terror attacks.
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation, chaired by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, voted in favor of the controversial "anti- terror bill," which sets special transgressions for anyone heading, supporting or sympathizing with terror groups, as well as inciting for terror and engaging in preparations to carry out a violent attack.
The bill proposes dramatically harsher penalties for the aforementioned offenses, including a life sentence without the possibility of parole in certain cases, increasing pre-measured life terms from 20 to 30 years and enabling law enforcement agencies to hold terror suspects for up to 30 days without legal counsel.
The bill's passage into a law would also authorize the state to seize the property of militant organizations and deny their members travel abroad in the absence of a warrant for their arrest.
The legislation is meant to replace what is known as "national state of emergency regulations" -- a slew of orders installed during Israel's establishment in 1948 that cover security, civil and economic issues.
Palestinians or Arab Israelis charged with security-related crimes in Israel's military or civilian courts would be hardest hit if the bill is ultimately passed into a law. But Livni underscored that it also applies to "price tag" attacks carried out by far-right Jewish extremists against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank.
Zehava Gal-On, leader of the left-leaning Meretz opposition party, accused the government of denying human rights in the name of fighting terror.
"The state of emergency, which was applied here since the British Mandate, cannot be replaced with anti-democratic legislation ... even in a democracy, not everything is allowed," The Jerusalem Post quoted Gal-On as saying.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) considered the bill as "anti-democratic," warning that its provisions could turn law-abiding people and organizations into "terrorists" solely based on suspicions.
"The bill gives the government draconian authority to take harsh steps against people and organizations without a trial and without minimum guarantees that their rights will be defended," Lila Margalit, an attorney for ACRI, said in a letter sent to the government on Friday.
