The Knesset Approves Freezing Additional Amounts from Palestinian Clearance Funds

SadaNews - The Israeli Knesset's general assembly approved today, Wednesday, the first reading of a bill that allows for the freezing of additional funds for the Palestinian Authority, with the bill to be returned to the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee for further deliberations in preparation for a vote on the second and third readings. According to the newspaper "Haaretz," the bill, pushed by Knesset member Moshe Bassal from the Likud party, stipulates the freezing of an annual amount equivalent to the funds that the Palestinian Authority transferred to the Gaza Strip in the previous year. According to the text of the bill, this money will be used to compensate those harmed by a "terrorist act originating from the Gaza Strip." The bill was supported by 12 Knesset members, with no opposition. Israel holds about 14 billion shekels of customs revenues from imports designated for Palestinians (clearance funds), under the pretext that this money is used to "encourage and aid terrorism." The funds withheld by Israel accumulate monthly in the treasury of the Israeli Ministry of Finance, while the government in Ramallah is compelled to take additional austerity measures to address the ongoing financial decline over nearly three years. The amount withheld has been accumulating since 2019, with about 400 million shekels added to it monthly. According to "Haaretz," the commander of the Central Region in the Israeli military, Avi Balut, recently warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that not transferring the funds to the Palestinian Authority is one of the factors that could lead to escalation in the West Bank. This occurs amid the Palestinian economic decline due to the ban imposed by the Israeli government on Palestinians working inside Israel, although several reports indicated that Israeli security agencies, excluding the police, support lifting this ban. Earlier, the Knesset approved in the first reading the bill for the 26th Knesset elections, which aims to establish special provisions concerning, among other things, voting for evacuated residents and dealing with election advertising produced by artificial intelligence. Controversial provisions pushed by coalition parties, including placing ballot boxes in nursing homes—a provision from previous elections believed to particularly benefit the "Yisrael Beiteinu" and "Democratic" parties—were removed from the election bill. Coalition parties are seeking to advance bills related to plans to weaken the judiciary and religious issues, along with laws concerning the 26th Knesset elections, during the narrow time remaining before the Knesset recess on July 17. In this context, the Knesset committee approved this morning to hold a session for the general assembly next Sunday as well, so that the Knesset meets four days a week. Today, the Knesset discussed the "Basic Law: Study of the Torah" project, which aims to grant special status to students of Haredi religious institutions. This follows a warning from the Knesset's legal advisor, attorney Sagit Avik, yesterday that elevating the value of Torah study to the level of "basic law with practical dimensions" could have legal repercussions. The Knesset's Constitution Committee also continued today to discuss reservations on a bill aimed at weakening the status of the government's legal advisor. The general assembly approved, the day before yesterday, to separate the bill to reduce its scope and facilitate its passage. In its current form, the law does not divide the position of the government's legal advisor, but significantly weakens it; it stipulates that their decisions will not be binding, and the government will be able to determine its positions independently, even consulting private attorneys in petitions filed against it, without allowing the legal advisor to present their position in them. The law, which was approved in the first reading, does not address the method of appointing the government's legal advisor, but states that the government will be able to decide, within 30 days of the law taking effect, how to conduct the appointment without additional legislation, which could allow it to turn the position into a political appointment.