MK Nissan Slomiansky (Bayit Yehudi), chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice committee, told Army Radio Tuesday morning that he decided to suspend the discussion of a bill seeking to suspend MKs who openly endorse terrorism, at least until PM Netanyahu returns home from his foreign visits. Slomiansky said there was no point in debating the bill unless all the Likud members of the coalition support it — which at this point is not certain. The chairman said that the proposed law is righteous and it is unimaginable that anyone who supports terrorism would continue to serve in the Knesset.
Slomiansky added that he also cancelled further debates on the new bill in light of Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein’s statement that the suspension bill would not pass as long as he is the speaker. Edelstein is a senior member in the Likud party. Meanwhile, there have been more than one version of what Edelstein actually said, seeing as the Speaker did support suspending MKs based on Article 7A of the Knesset Basic Law that permits the removal of an MK who supports a terror organization or an armed struggle against Israel or incitement.
The current bill which has been suspended in committee allows a majority of 90 MKs to suspend an MK over inappropriate behavior.
The bill was also attacked by President Reuven Rivlin, who pointed out that the Knesset is not the sovereign, rather it is the representative of the sovereign, which is the public. He noted in the case of the president or the speaker of the house, who are appointed by the Knesset, the same Knesset has the power to remove them. But it should not have the same power regarding the representatives of thousands of voters.