The Israeli cabinet unanimously approved Sunday an amendment to the penal code making it easier to indict individuals for incitement to violence, reported Haaretz newspaper.
The bill is to be submitted to the Knesset Monday, and will be brought for its first reading at Tuesday's special plenary session, said the paper.
According to the paper, the amendment was sparked by the Supreme Court's recent ruling in the case of Muhammed Jabarin. In this verdict, the court held that article 4(a) of the Counter-terrorism Ordinance, which forbids the publication of words of praise or encouragement for violence, applies only to publications by terrorist organizations and not to publications by individuals.
Talia Ish-Shalom, an aide to Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein, told the cabinet that as a result of the court ruling, it would no longer be possible to indict someone for saying, for instance, that the assassination of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was a good thing, unless he was speaking on behalf of a terrorist organization.
Haaretz said that the amendment is meant to eliminate this loophole.
The amendment delineates two types of incitement: explicit, defined as publishing "a call to violence," and implicit, defined as "words, including words of praise, sympathy or encouragement, that could incite acts of violence."
The bill applies to incitement to violence against either people or property, and establishes a maximum penalty of five years in jail, the paper added.
It also stipulates that a publication could be considered incitement even if no actual violence results, and instructs the courts to determine whether a given statement constitutes incitement based on its content and the circumstances under which it was published.
Haaretz added that the bill states that all moves to indict on charges of incitement will require the consent of the attorney general, in order to minimize any infringement of the freedom of speech.
Rubinstein told the cabinet that "his office, the police and the Shin Bet security service are all monitoring public discourse carefully for possible incitement."
In answer to a question from Prime Minister Ehud Barak, however, he said he has no legal authority to send warning letters to public figures whose statements might have constituted incitement, according to the paper -- Albabwaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
