Following the attack on police officers in the City Hall building of the Arab city of Kafr Qassem, the Lapid-Bennett coalition is working on the Kafr Qassem Law, which increases the prison terms for individuals who attack a police officer, Reshet Bet radio reported Wednesday morning.
According to the bill that was initiated by MK Zvi Hauser (New Hope), a minimum sentence of six months’ imprisonment will be imposed on a person who attacked a police officer. The law will also ban judges from converting an actual prison sentence to a suspended sentence in the event of an assault on a police officer. The maximum sentence will be 10 years.
“We need to return to a situation where criminals are afraid of police officers and not the other way around,” said MK Hauser.
It should be noted that Hauser’s party leader, Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar, chairs the Ministerial Committee on Legislation, which means a big advantage to the proposed bill on the way to being submitted to the Knesset Plenum. Sa’ar clarified recently that he plans to promote legislation to violence in Arab society.
It helps that Ra’am, the Arab faction in the Lapid-Bennett government, denounced the attack on the police in Kafr Qassem. Sources in the party told Kan 11 News: “These are individuals who acted on their own in a way that is not acceptable to us at all. We will clarify the issue and punish them if necessary. Political elements are trying to use this exceptional case to attack us.”
Meanwhile, the Knesset Public Security Committee, chaired by MK Merav Ben Ari (Yesh Atid), was told by the chairperson on Monday, during a committee meeting on the conclusions of Israel Police following the outbreak of violence during Operation Guardian of the Walls: “We are aware of the threats from Hamas, but during Operation Guardian of the Walls we were exposed to a threat within us, and citizens paid for it with their lives. Others were severely injured and are still in rehabilitation when their only ‘sin’ was that they live in the wrong city.”
Police official Shlomi Toledano informed the committee that “in 2022, NIS 13 million ($4 million) will be allotted to police operations pay. A large-scale plan has been prepared for increasing police personnel in the Arab sector. We recommended increasing the number of reserve units from 16 to 32. We will be able to call up these units during violent events. 340 new positions in Border Police companies have been approved to deal with riots. Budgets have been allocated towards turning Lod and Akko into ‘safe cities,’ with security cameras, technology, and a professional workforce that will operate them. In 2022, police stations will be reinforced with an additional 100 officers. New police stations will be built in Lod. The budget for the planning phase has been approved.”
“Law enforcement is a cornerstone of a democratic country,” Toledano stated, and later added, “We are working to train commanders. During such events, we do not rely on local stations, but on task-oriented headquarters that work in collaboration with Border Police companies and police officers who are specifically trained to handle riots.”