Read Palestine

The Counter-Terrorism Law, 5776-2016

Properties2
tags
aliasesCounter-Terrorism Law, Counter-Terrorism Law, 5776-2016, The Counter-Terrorism Law 5776-2016

33 min read

Summary

Israel’s Counter-Terrorism Law, 5776-2016, in an unofficial English translation: a single statute establishing criminal and administrative provisions, including special enforcement powers, for combatting terrorism — defining a terrorist organization, a terrorist act, a member, terrorist property and grave terrorist and grave security offenses (Chapter One, sections 1-2); a designation regime for terrorist organizations and terrorist operatives run by the Minister of Defense on a Defense Authority request, with temporary and permanent designation, an Advisory Committee hearing on claims the organization files in writing, confidential information withheld from the applicant, foreign and UN Security Council designations adopted or followed, four-yearly periodic review, and revocation, with court consideration of a designated body’s status barred in ordinary proceedings (Chapter Two, sections 3-19); offenses and penalties including heading a terrorist organization (25 years, or life alone where the activity includes murder), membership (five years), identification and incitement (three to five years), property transactions, reporting duties, doubled aggravated penalties up to 25 years, and life for a mass act of terrorism (Chapter Three, sections 20-44); special detention rules for grave security offense detainees, including delay of first appearance before a judge for up to 48, then 72, then 96 hours, pre-indictment detention of up to 20 days in the detainee’s presence, extensions in his absence, and a bar on one attorney meeting more than one detainee in the same investigation (Chapter Four, sections 45-52); judicial and administrative seizure and forfeiture of terrorist property, with deviation from the rules of evidence and confidential evidence in court (Chapter Five, sections 53-68); police orders preventing terrorist organization activity and restricting use of a place for up to three months, extendable (Chapter Six, sections 69-72); legislative amendments repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance, 5708-1948, the Prohibition on Terrorism Financing Law, 5765-2005 and the Criminal Procedure (Detainee Suspected of a Security Offense) (Temporary Provisions) Law, 5766-2006, repealing long lists of the Defense (State of Emergency) Regulations, 1945, and amending other laws to refer to this Law (Chapter Seven, sections 73-93); and miscellaneous provisions on non-delegation, application of the money-laundering regime to Sections 31-36, execution and regulations, annual reporting to the Knesset on Section 24 indictments and Chapter Four detention, commencement on 30 Tishrei 5777 (1 November 2016) with the Regulations 84, 85 and 120 revocations deferred to 3 Adar 5777 (1 March 2017), and transitional provisions carrying prior designations and seizures over, with a Schedule listing Afghanistan, Libya, Sudan and Pakistan for Section 42 (Chapter Eight, sections 94-101 and Schedule) (The Counter-Terrorism Law, 5776-2016, PDF p.1-79).

What the file is

The unofficial English translation of the Law as published on gov.il, in one PDF of 79 pages (about 22,739 words in the text copy), each page headed “Unofficial Translation”. The printed page numbers in the original do not run cleanly: PDF p.10 and p.11 are both printed ”- 11 -” (there is no printed p.10), and the same duplication occurs at PDF p.20-21 (both ”- 21 -”), p.30-31 (both ”- 31 -”), p.40-41 (both ”- 41 -”), p.50-51 (both ”- 51 -”) and p.60-61 (both ”- 61 -”) and p.70-71 (both ”- 71 -”), confirmed in the original; there are therefore no printed pages 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 or 70. Locators in this wiki are therefore PDF pages throughout. The text copy supplied with the PDF, with === PDF p.N === markers, matches the original at the places checked, including the slips recorded in Open questions. No Hebrew text, table or figure appears in the file. The Law ends on PDF p.79 with the Schedule and two lines of asterisks; no passage or signature block appears.

Section by section

  • Chapter One: Object and Interpretation (PDF p.1-10). Section 1, Object: “to establish criminal and administrative legal provisions, including special enforcement powers, for the purpose of combatting terrorism” — preventing the establishment, existence and activity of terrorist organizations and preventing and foiling terrorist offenses, balanced alongside Israel’s commitment to human rights and the accepted standards in this field as provided by international law. Section 2(a) definitions and 2(b) (foreseeing a near-certain result is intention): a “Terrorist Organization” is an organized and continuous body of persons that commits terrorist acts or operates intending they be committed (including training, weapons acts and weapons transactions for that purpose), whether or not designated; a body that assists or promotes such an organization in a manner capable of a substantial or ongoing contribution, if designated; or a body designated outside Israel, if designated — with branch and subordinate bodies counted as part of it and legal activity immaterial. A “Member” includes one who takes an active part, acts as representative or agent, or expressed consent to join to a person he had reasonable grounds to believe belonged to it; self-presentation raises a presumption of membership, past membership is deemed to continue unless cessation is proved, and unawareness is no answer where suspicion was not investigated — each with a reasonable-doubt rule in the accused’s favour. A “Terrorist Act” is an offense or threat meeting a political, religious, nationalistic or ideological motive, an intention to provoke fear or panic or to compel a government or public international organization, and a listed serious harm (to body or freedom, public health or safety, property in defined circumstances, religious objects, infrastructure, systems, essential services, the economy or the environment); a weapon-or-knife act under the harm limb is deemed a terrorist act without the intention limb, a chemical, biological, radioactive, harmful-substance or sensitive-facility act without the intention or harm limbs in defined circumstances, and motive and intention are presumed where the actor is a terrorist organization or its member. Further definitions cover a Designated Terrorist Organization (designated under Sections 4, 6 or 11), a Harmful Substance, a Sensitive Facility, a Grave Security Offense, a Terrorist Offense, a Grave Terrorist Offense, Property, Property Connected to an Offense, Terrorist Property, Property of a Terrorist Organization (with a presumption for property in a place regularly used for its activity), a property transaction, a Defense Authority (Israel Security Agency (ISA), Israeli Secret Intelligence Service, Israel Defense Forces, Israel Police) and the Head of a Defense Authority, and incorporate the Penal Law, the Arrests Law, the Evidence Ordinance, the Arrest and Search Ordinance and the money-laundering and terrorism-financing laws by name and year.
  • Chapter Two, Article A: Designation by the Minister of Defense (PDF p.10-17). Section 3: the Minister may designate by order a body he is convinced meets paragraph (1) or (2) of the terrorist organization definition, on a reasoned written request from the Head of the ISA or another Defense Authority head submitted through the ISA head with his opinion and the Attorney General’s approval; for a paragraph (2) body acting in Israel through another party, a warning and continued activity are first required unless a warning would thwart action; the Prime Minister may move the decision to the Ministerial Committee or the Government. Section 4: temporary designation, in force until a permanent designation, a decision not to designate, or the end of the decision period, and counting as a designation for all purposes while in force. Section 5: the organization or a member may file written claims through the Advisory Committee within two months of Reshumot publication (extendable for unawareness or special reasons); the Committee hears the requesting head’s reply and must give a reasoned recommendation within four months. Section 6: permanent designation within one month of the Committee’s recommendation (extendable by one month), or automatically one month after the claims period if no claims are filed. Section 7: revocation where there was no basis, or after two years where the organization has substantially changed its ways with a high probability it will not resume terrorist activity; a revocation may itself be revoked within two years for false information or resumed activity; the Ministerial Committee may revoke for special reasons, a paragraph (1) revocation against its continuing application requiring a joint Knesset committee’s approval. Section 8: a claimant may view the request, recommendation and decision, but not Section 9 confidential information or information withdrawn under Section 9(d). Section 9: the Committee may treat information as confidential where disclosure is liable to harm State security, foreign relations, or public safety or security, or to reveal confidential work methods, and the non-disclosure interest outweighs disclosure for truth and justice; it may base its recommendation on such information, giving the applicant a summary insofar as possible; if it finds information not confidential, the requesting head may withdraw it from consideration altogether.
  • Chapter Two, Article B: Designation following a designation outside Israel (PDF p.17-23). The definitions provision (numbered 11 as printed; see Open questions) defines “Foreign”, “Israeli Resident” (including a resident of the Area who is an Israeli citizen or entitled to immigrate under the Law of Return), an extraterritorial “Terrorist Act” and a “Terrorist Operative”. Section 11: where a competent party outside Israel designates a foreign body or person, the Minister may designate on reasonable grounds, membership being prima facie evidence of operative status; a UN Security Council designation is temporarily adopted from its publication on the Council’s website, for up to three months (extendable by 90 days in total) for an organization and 30 days for an operative, pending the Minister’s own designation decision; the Minister may not use this article where an Article A designation exists or is intended. Section 12: Advisory Committee periodic review every four years. Section 13: revocation on application by the designated body or person or anyone directly harmed, and a duty to revoke where a designation condition is no longer satisfied, including where the foreign designation was revoked.
  • Chapter Two, Article C: General provisions (PDF p.23-26). Section 14: the Advisory Committee is appointed by the Minister of Justice — a retired Supreme Court or District Court judge as chairman, a jurist qualified as a District Court judge, and a member with security and counterterrorism experience appointed in consultation with the Minister of Defense. Section 15: conflict-of-interest prohibitions, with “relative” and “personal interest” defined. Section 16: discussions in camera, confidential protocols. Section 17: a designation, revocation or cancellation of a revocation takes effect on publication of its order (a temporary designation on the decision date), and a designation survives changes of name, symbols or structure. Section 18: publication on the Ministry of Defense website, with further means the Minister may determine. Section 19: in any legal proceeding a court shall not consider a claim that a designated body or person is not a terrorist organization or operative, or that a designation is invalid — without derogating from the Supreme Court’s High Court of Justice authority.
  • Chapter Three, Article A: Offenses (PDF p.26-36). Section 20: heading or directing a terrorist organization in its entirety — 25 years, or life imprisonment and that penalty alone where its activity includes murder. Section 21: managing or directing its activity — 10 years, 15 if the activity was criminal. Section 22: membership — five years; a member taking part in or acting for the organization — seven years; recruiting — seven years. Section 23: providing a service or resources that may assist or promote its activity — five years, unless unawareness is proved, suspicion uninvestigated counting as awareness. Section 24: an act of identification with a terrorist organization (praise, support or sympathy, a flag, symbol, slogan or anthem) in public to identify, or in circumstances of an actual possibility of leading to a terrorist act or specified offenses — three years; publishing a direct call to commit a terrorist act, or praise, sympathy, encouragement, support or identification where content and circumstances give a substantial possibility of bringing one about — five years; possessing such a publication for distribution or serving its preparation, creation or distribution — two years; a correct and fair report is no offense; indictment requires the Attorney General’s approval. Section 25: providing services or resources (transport, lodging, money, food, clothing, information, communications, documents, vehicles, gasoline, land, a structure or any other resource) that may facilitate a terrorist act, ease it or facilitate escape — five years, whether or not the act was committed. Section 26: failure to act reasonably on information arousing a substantial suspicion that a felony terrorist act was about to be, or had been but could still partly be prevented — three years; reporting to a Defense Authority as early as possible counts as acting reasonably. Section 27: a threat to commit a terrorist act with the defined motive and intention — seven years. Section 28: preparation (preparing a plot or site, forging documents, preparing or possessing means including weapons and vehicles, collecting or transferring information, preparing a route, passage or tunnel) — half the offense’s penalty, 15 years where it was mandatory life. Section 29: training or instructing for terrorism — nine years; receiving it — seven years; presence at a training place, and provision or receipt by or for a member or in a regularly used place, raise presumptions of the required intention. Section 30: a weapons act or transaction with a terrorist intention — 20 years or a fine ten times the Penal Law Section 61(a)(4) fine; for chemical, biological or radioactive weapons, a harmful substance or a sensitive facility — 25 years or twenty times; the other party’s being a terrorist organization or member raises a presumption of intention. Section 31: a property transaction intending to assist, advance or finance a grave terrorist offense or reward it, or a terrorist organization’s activity — ten years or twenty times the fine. Section 32: a property transaction capable of assisting, advancing or financing a grave terrorist offense or rewarding it, a transaction in a terrorist organization’s property or property connected to a grave terrorist offense, or a transfer to a terrorist organization — seven years or ten times the fine; knowledge-based presumptions and a narrow post-transaction-reporting exception follow, and a transaction permitted in advance by the Minister of Finance is excluded. Section 33: a duty to report to the Israel Police, on a reasonable suspicion that property is a terrorist organization’s or that a transaction is capable of advancing or financing a grave terrorist offense. Section 34: a duty to report holding a designated organization’s property, and a bar on any property transaction in it except as a Section 56 seizure order permits. Section 35: good-faith non-performance, reporting, disclosure or non-disclosure under this Law, and action on Police directives, carry no breach of confidentiality or trust and no criminal, civil or disciplinary liability. Section 36: breach of the Sections 33-34 reporting duties — one year, or three years where done intending to thwart seizure.
  • Chapter Three, Article B: Aggravated penalties (PDF p.36-38). Section 37: an offense that is a terrorist act carries double its penalty, capped at 25 years (excluding minimum penalties), and 30 years where it is punishable by non-mandatory life imprisonment; the court shall note a terrorist-act holding in its judgment. Section 38: assistance and conspiracy penalties keyed to the aggravated penalty — an accessory to a life offense, 15 years; conspiracy to a felony terrorist-act or Section 30 offense, 14 years or the Section 37 penalty, whichever is more lenient. Section 39: a terrorist act causing bodily harm to a large public, or committed with a chemical, biological or radioactive weapon, harmful substance or sensitive facility liable to cause serious harm to a large public or area — life imprisonment. Section 40: for a life-sentenced terrorist offender, a commutation recommendation may only be presented after at least 15 years served, and the recommended commuted sentence shall not be less than 40 years.
  • Chapter Three, Article C: Applicability and evidence (PDF p.38-40). Section 41: specified offenses that are foreign offenses, committed by a member of, or in connection with, an Article A designated organization with a link to Israel, are deemed offenses against national security for Penal Law extraterritorial applicability. Section 42: an out-of-court witness statement may be admitted in a terrorist offense proceeding where the giver cannot be brought because he has left to, or is present in, a Prevention of Infiltration Law country or region, the territories of the Palestinian Council, the Gaza Strip area or a Schedule country or region; no conviction may rest on such a statement alone, and it may serve as an evidentiary addition but not corroborative evidence. Section 43: pre-recorded testimony — residence in a Section 42(a) place raises a presumption that trial testimony will not be possible. Section 44: prosecution after the limitation period where the suspect is outside Israel and cannot be brought to Israel, for a terrorist-act offense punishable by 20 years after aggravation.
  • Chapter Four: Grave security offense detainees — special provisions (PDF p.40-46). Section 45: the Arrests Law applies subject to this chapter. Section 46: a commanding officer may delay bringing a detainee before a judge by 48 hours in a reasoned written decision where interruption would materially harm the investigation; the ISA Investigations Department Director’s approval adds 24 hours where interruption may thwart prevention of harm to human life; the Court, in exceptional cases on the ISA Director’s written request with the Attorney General’s consent, adds a further 24 hours, in a hearing in the detainee’s absence. Section 47: pre-indictment detention in the detainee’s presence of up to 20 days (over 15 only on the almost-certainly-thwart-prevention ground), extendable in periods of up to 15 days, with the Arrests Law subsection (b) period read as 35 days. Section 48: a Supreme Court judge may extend in the detainee’s absence, in periods of up to 72 hours totalling at most 144 hours and not beyond the 20 days. Section 49: a review hearing only after a preliminary hearing in the detainee’s absence finds a ground, and the review hearing itself may be held in his absence. Section 50: appeal or leave to appeal within 30 hours (Sabbaths and holidays excluded), heard within 24 hours, the appeal hearing liable to be held in his absence. Section 51: the detainee is brought before the Court within 24 hours after absence grounds cease; evidence may be admitted in the absence of the detainee or his defense attorney to prevent harm to national security or thwarting of the investigation; an absence hearing is held with a defense attorney present, one being appointed if needed, and its decision is brought to the detainee’s attention as soon as possible unless the Court orders otherwise. Section 52: the Supervisor (an authorized ISA investigations director or a senior police officer) may bar one attorney from meeting more than one same-investigation grave security offense detainee where the meeting is liable to materially harm the investigation; over 30 days requires the Attorney General’s approval.
  • Chapter Five, Article A: Judicial forfeiture in a criminal proceeding (PDF p.46-47). Section 53: the Prohibition on Money Laundering Law forfeiture provisions apply with stated changes, including that Section 36C(a) of the Drugs Ordinance applies only to a claimant who is not a terrorist organization. Section 54: on a Section 20 conviction the Court may order forfeiture of the organization’s property. Section 55: property discovered after sentence may be forfeited by the Court that presided.
  • Chapter Five, Article B: Administrative seizure and forfeiture (PDF p.47-59). Section 56: the Minister of Defense may order temporary seizure, restriction of use or of transfer, or a guarantee, for property of a terrorist organization or designated operative or property intended for a grave terrorist offense where necessary to thwart the organization’s activity or a grave offense; property used directly for, or obtained as remuneration for, such an offense; and property discovered after sentence where forfeiture is impossible through inadmissible or confidential evidence — and, on a Defense Authority request, for property of a not-yet-designated body where a designation request has been or is intended to be submitted and the property may disappear; money is treated fungibly, equivalent-value property may be seized for remuneration, and unreported, unauthorised or concealed property seized at the Israel–Gaza Strip border crossing is presumed covered. Section 57: no seizure of offense-connected property once a suspect has been questioned under caution, unless a prosecutor certifies criminal forfeiture impossible through inadmissibility or confidentiality, the public interest, or an insufficient criminal evidentiary basis. Section 58: an order lasts at most two years, extendable until final decisions in hearing, petition or designation proceedings and by 30 days to issue a forfeiture order; for an undesignated body, at most three months, extendable to four in total with the Attorney General’s approval. Section 59: the order specifies the property and its place, and may reach inseparable mixed property. Section 60: Drugs Ordinance Section 36C applies with the Section 53 changes. Section 61: a claimant may present arguments within two months; the Minister shall revoke or amend where the claimant proves his right and a Section 36C(a) condition. Section 62: execution by authorized public servants, police or Customs officers with search-warrant powers; property seized without an order issued within one month (extendable by 15 days) is returned; mixed or additional property seized during execution is returned if no amended order issues within two weeks. Section 63: amended orders, with periods counted from the original order. Section 64: the Administrative Affairs Court may approve, change or revoke a decision under this chapter, or substitute its own, considering any factor the Minister could consider. Section 65: the Court may deviate from the rules of evidence and admit confidential evidence in a party’s absence or without disclosure, on the State-security / foreign-relations / public-safety / confidential-methods test, with a summary to the other party insofar as possible and withdrawal of the evidence if the request is refused. Section 66: administrative forfeiture no earlier than 45 days after a hearing decision, 90 days after the order where no claims were made, 45 days after dismissal of a petition or appeal, after permanent designation for an organization’s property, and 90 days or one year for offense-connected property depending on whether an investigation under caution began; after two years without a forfeiture order the seizure expires and the property is returned. Section 67: Regulation 74 of the Defense (State of Emergency) Regulations, 1945 is limited to property seizable or forfeitable under this chapter, and property seized under it is forfeited under this chapter, not confiscated under the Regulation. Section 68 (Article C): the Administrator General seizes and manages seized or forfeited property, and management costs and his remuneration are collected from forfeited property he manages.
  • Chapter Six: Orders for the prevention of activity and restriction of use of a place (PDF p.60-63). Section 69: a police District Commander with reasonable grounds to suspect terrorist organization activity (including a meeting, procession, convention, assembly or training) is taking or due to take place may issue a Prevention of Activity Order specifying the activity, time and place, restricting use of or closing the place only to the extent necessary; a person harmed may argue before the Commander. Section 70: the Police Commissioner may issue a Restriction of Use of a Place Order for up to three months, extendable by three months in total, after a hearing opportunity for owner and occupant (deferrable where a prior hearing would thwart the order’s purpose); the Magistrate Court may extend for up to six months at a time, repeatedly, Section 65 applying; a police officer may enter and use reasonable force to enforce it. Section 71: the Administrative Affairs Court may revoke, affirm, change or remand on petition, Section 65 applying. Section 72: breach of either order, including allowing another to use the place — two years’ imprisonment.
  • Chapter Seven: Legislative amendments (PDF p.63-69, continuing). Section 73: the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance, 5708-1948 is repealed. Section 74: the Prohibition on Terrorism Financing Law, 5765-2005 is repealed. Section 75: the Criminal Procedure (Detainee Suspected of a Security Offense) (Temporary Provisions) Law, 5766-2006 is repealed. Section 76: amendments to the Defense (State of Emergency) Regulations, 1945 — the Regulation 2(1) definitions of “Requisition” and “Motor Vehicle” are deleted, a long list of regulations is repealed (among them 78 to 85, 94 to 96, 120, 121 and 146 to 162), and Regulations 127, 139, 140 and 143D are repealed except for the powers in Regulations 72, 74 to 77, 119 and 145. Section 77: Citizenship Law references to the terrorism-financing law are replaced by this Law. Section 78: the Knesset Building and Precincts Law, Section 3(c), gains this Law and other terrorist-act offenses. Section 79: the Benefits for Victims of Hostilities Law’s “Hostility” definition now refers to an Article A designated organization. Section 80: the Prisons Ordinance definitions are replaced by this Law’s, “a Terroristic Organization” becomes “a Terrorist Organization”, and a grave security offense and a Section 22(a) offense enter First Schedule A. Section 81: the Penal Law’s Chapter Eight heading loses “or Terrorism”, Sections 144D2 and 144D3 lose “or terrorism”, and a new Section 453(d) gives ten years for a Section 452 offense against a sensitive facility. Section 82: the Criminal Registry and Rehabilitation Law gains this Law in Section 17(4) and a revised First Schedule reference to Article A of Chapter 2 and Chapter 5. Section 83: the Courts Law gains a new Section 68(c1) (in-camera petition hearings, deviation from the evidence laws and undisclosed evidence on the standard test) and (c2) (in-camera testimony of a confidential-identity witness), and its First Schedule loses Items 8, 10 and 11 and gains Sections 21 and 31 offenses as Item 14. Section 84: the National Insurance Law now refers to a grave security offense under this Law. Section 85: the Public Defender Law gains anyone for whom the Court appointed a defense attorney under Section 51(c). Section 86: the Arrests Law, Section 35(b), is narrowed and gains a grave terrorist offense paragraph. Section 87: the monuments law’s reference becomes Section 24 of this Law. Section 88: the International Legal Assistance Law’s Second Schedule references are replaced by this Law, with a further insertion after Item K: “L. Terrorist offenses, as defined in the Counter-terrorism Law”. Section 89: the Freedom of Information Law, Section 14(a), gains paragraph (15) for the Advisory Committee under Section 14 of this Law. Section 90: the Prohibition on Money Laundering Law loses its terrorism-financing definition, gains this Law’s definition, replaces “Prohibition on Terrorist Financing” with “Counter-terrorism” in Sections 28-31, points Section 31B(a)(1) to Section 95 of this Law, and adds Sections 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31 and 32 offenses and terrorist-act offenses to its First Schedule, Item (18). Section 91: the Courts of Administrative Affairs Law’s First Schedule gains Item 55, counter-terrorism decisions on Chapter Five seizure and forfeiture and Chapter Six place orders. Section 92: the Combatting Criminal Organizations Law’s First Schedule, Item 3, is deleted. Section 93: the Regulation of Research on Biological Generators of Diseases Law’s “Security Offense” definition gains a terrorist offense under this Law, excluding Sections 26, 32 and 36 offenses.
  • Chapter Eight: Miscellaneous provisions (PDF p.72-79). Section 94: powers of the Minister of Defense and a Head of a Defense Authority may not be delegated unless this Law prescribes otherwise; the Attorney General may delegate his Sections 3(b), 46(a)(3) and 52(b) powers to the State Attorney and Deputy State Attorney, and the Section 3(b) power also to the Deputy Attorney General. Section 95: the Bank of Israel Governor’s and the Minister’s money-laundering order powers under Sections 7, 8A and 8B extend to enforcing Sections 31-36, including orders checking property-transaction parties’ identifying details against designated organizations and operatives; reports go to the Israel Prohibition on Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Authority’s Section 28 database, Section 31A confidentiality applies, responsible officers and Section 11N supervisors carry the orders, Section 14 financial sanctions apply through the Financial Sanctions’ Committee, a paid sanction bars a Section 36 indictment for the same act, and only one sanction may be imposed for a single act. Section 96: this Law adds to, and does not derogate from, any other law. Section 97: the Minister of Justice executes the Law generally (regulations on criminal forfeiture procedure and on seized and forfeited property management, the latter with the Minister of Finance’s consent), the Minister of Defense executes Chapter Two and Article B of Chapter Five, the Minister of Public Security executes Chapter Six, the Defense and Justice Ministers may jointly regulate designations, notices, revocation and review and Chapter Five orders, and regulations (designation orders excepted) require Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee approval. Section 98: the Minister of Justice, with that Committee’s approval, may amend the Schedule by Order. Section 99: the Minister of Justice reports annually on June 1st to that Committee on Section 24 indictments and implementation and on Chapter Four implementation, itemising delays under Section 46, detention periods under Sections 47-48 including periods over 15 days, hearings under Sections 49(b) and 50(b), attorneys appointed under Section 51(c), decisions withheld under Section 51(d) and combined use of powers. Section 100: commencement on 30 Tishrei 5777 (1 November 2016); revocation of Defense Regulations 84, 85 and 120 commences on 3 Adar 5777 (1 March 2017), and prosecution or exercise of another power under those Regulations in the interval requires the non-delegable approval of the Attorney General or State Attorney. Section 101: transitional provisions — a body designated before commencement under Section 8 of the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance or as an unlawful association under Regulation 84(1)(b) is deemed permanently designated under Section 6; a body designated under Section 2 of the Prohibition on Terrorism Financing Law is deemed designated under Section 11(a), and a person designated there as a terrorist operative is deemed designated under Section 11(a)(2) or (3)(c); prior law governs property seized, forfeited or confiscated before commencement; and specified pre-commencement offenses (Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance Sections 2-3, Prohibition on Terrorism Financing Law Section 8, Defense Regulations 84-85, and, for Chapter Four, a security offense under the 5766-2006 detainee law) are deemed grave terrorist offenses. Schedule (Sections 42 and 98): Afghanistan, Libya, Sudan, Pakistan.

Key passages

  • “to establish criminal and administrative legal provisions, including special enforcement powers, for the purpose of combatting terrorism” (section 1, PDF p.1)
  • “balanced alongside the State of Israel’s commitment to human rights and the accepted standards in this field as provided by international law” (section 1, PDF p.1)
  • “shall not be entitled to view confidential information as defined in Section 9” (section 7(f), on the copy of a revocation decision sent to the applicant, PDF p.15)
  • “the Court shall not consider a claim that a body of persons or person designated pursuant to this chapter is not a terrorist organization or terrorist operative” (section 19(a), PDF p.26)
  • “is liable to life imprisonment and to that penalty alone” (section 20, where the headed organization’s activity includes murder, PDF p.26)
  • “This Law shall enter into force on 30 Tishrei 5777 (1 November 2016)” (section 100(a), PDF p.77)

Evidence the work relies on

A statute, not an evidentiary work. Its internal authorities in PDF p.1-69 are the statutes, ordinances and regulations it defines, incorporates, amends or repeals, each cited in the text with its Sefer HaHukkim (Book of Laws) or Laws of the State of Israel reference in footnotes 1-45: among them the Government Law, 5761-2001, the Penal Law, 5737-1977, the Prevention of Infiltration (Offenses and Jurisdiction) Law, 5714-1954, the Prohibition on Money Laundering Law, 5760-2000, the Evidence [New Version] Ordinance, 5731-1971, the Criminal Procedure (Arrest and Search) [New Version] Ordinance, 5729-1969, the Securities Law, 5728-1968, the Law of Return, 5710-1950, the Emergency Regulations (Judea and Samaria – Jurisdiction in Offenses and Legal Aid), 5728-1967, the Release from Prison on Parole Law, 5761-2001, the Dangerous Drugs (New Version) Ordinance, 5733-1973, the Execution Law, 5727-1967, the Customs Ordinance, the Defense (State of Emergency) Regulations, 1945, the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance, 5708-1948, the Citizenship Law, 5712-1952, the Prisons [New Version] Ordinance, 5732-1971, the Courts Law [Consolidated Version], 5744-1984 and the Basic Law: The Judiciary, the Freedom of Information Law, 5758-1998, the Courts of Administrative Affairs Law, 5760-2000, the Combatting Criminal Organizations Law, 5763-2003 and the Regulation of Research on Biological Generators of Diseases Law, 5769-2008. None of those provisions’ texts is reproduced beyond the passages this Law itself inserts or substitutes, recorded in Section by section.

Analysis

Read on its own terms through PDF p.69, the Law replaces three named predecessor statutes and much of the 1945 Defense Regulations list with one code whose definitions do much of its work: an organization need not be designated to be a terrorist organization under paragraph (1), membership can rest on self-presentation or uninvestigated suspicion with presumptions that run until the accused raises a reasonable doubt or proves cessation, and a terrorist act’s motive and intention are presumed from the actor’s organizational identity and are deemed present without the intention limb for knife, weapon and mass-harm cases. Designation is executive — Minister of Defense, Ministerial Committee or Government — on a security authority’s reasoned request, with the designated body’s participation confined to written claims to an Advisory Committee that may recommend on confidential information the applicant cannot view, and with ordinary courts barred by Section 19 from entertaining a claim that a designation is invalid. The criminal chapters pair broad ancillary offenses (identification, failure to prevent, property transactions capable of assisting, transactions in property connected to an offense) with reporting duties, doubled penalties and presumptions of intention, while Chapters Four to Six reproduce the same structure administratively: delayed and in-absentia detention hearings, seizure on ministerial order where criminal forfeiture is certified impossible for confidentiality, confidential evidence in court, and place-closure orders. The safeguards the text itself states are also part of its structure: time limits on temporary adoption, temporary designation, absence extensions and seizure orders, periodic and revocation review, return of property where orders lapse, a defense attorney’s required presence at absence hearings, and the bar on convicting on a Section 42 statement alone. Chapter Eight closes the structure with the oversight the text itself provides: annual June 1st reporting to the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on Section 24 indictments and on every Chapter Four detention power, itemised by power and period (section 99), Committee approval for most regulations and for amending the Schedule (sections 97(e), 98), and non-delegation of the core designation and detention powers (section 94). Commencement is 1 November 2016, with the Defense Regulations 84, 85 and 120 revocations held to 1 March 2017 and interim use gated on Attorney General or State Attorney approval, and section 101 carries pre-commencement designations, seizures and specified offenses over into the new regime rather than extinguishing them. The file gives no figures for the Law’s use and no case.

People, organizations, places and events

Counter-Terrorism Law, 5776-2016, Advisory Committee (Counter-Terrorism Law), Shin Bet, Israel Defense Forces, Knesset, Israeli Supreme Court, Israel, Gaza

Concepts

Administrative Detention

How it relates to other sources

The Law is the statutory successor, on its own text, to the regimes other ingested primary texts state separately: Section 73 repeals the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance, 5708-1948, Section 74 the Prohibition on Terrorism Financing Law, 5765-2005 and Section 75 the temporary security-detainee procedure law, while Section 76 repeals the listed Defense (State of Emergency) Regulations, 1945 provisions and Section 67 confines Regulation 74 seizures to this Law’s forfeiture chapter — the 1945 Regulations whose detention and deportation provisions are discussed on Administrative Detention. Its Chapter Four detention track stands beside, and is distinct from, the Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law, 5762-2002 (2002) track: judicial review there is of a Chief of General Staff incarceration order within fourteen days, here the special provisions govern pre-indictment detention of a grave security offense suspect under the Arrests Law, with delay of first appearance up to 96 hours in total. Section 95 and section 90 route this Law’s property-transaction regime through the Prohibition on Money Laundering Law’s orders, database, supervisors and financial sanctions, and section 101(e)(4) treats a pre-commencement security offense under the repealed 5766-2006 detainee law as a grave terrorist offense for Chapter Four. No other ingested source in the wiki gives this Law’s sections.

Open questions

  • The Article B definitions provision is numbered “11.” in the original as in the text copy (PDF p.17), and the designation provision that follows is also numbered “11.” (PDF p.18-21); Section 11(a)(1) refers to the terrorist-act definition as being in Section 10 (PDF p.19) and Section 32(b) refers to the “Terrorist Operative” definition “in Section 10” (PDF p.33). The definitions are recorded as printed, under their printed number, with the internal references indicating Section 10; no renumbering has been made. No Section 10 heading appears in PDF p.1-69.
  • Section 11’s internal cross-references as printed do not all match its own lettering: the continuation on PDF p.21 refers to subsection “(a)(1) or 3(c)” and to “(c)(3)”, where the provisions in view are (a)(1), (a)(3) and (a)(3)(c); recorded as printed.
  • Printed page numbers are duplicated at every tenth PDF page from p.10 onward in the original (PDF p.10 and p.11 both ”- 11 -”, and so on through p.70-71, both ”- 71 -”); there are no printed pages 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 or 70.
  • Slips as printed in the original, byte-verified in the text copy and confirmed in the original’s text layer: “theGovernment Law” (PDF p.3); the Prohibition on Terrorism Financing Law defined as 5761-2005 in Section 2 (PDF p.4), against 5765-2005 in Sections 74 and elsewhere; “an terrorist act” (PDF p.7 and p.36); “Sefer HaHukim” with one k (footnote 6, PDF p.7); “[ether requests being]” (Section 3(b), PDF p.10); “subsection (a)(2);.” (Section 7(b), PDF p.14); “terrosrist”, “recorderd”, “initative” and “extention” (Section 11, PDF p.19-21, with “initative” again at PDF p.21); “In camera” with a capital I (Section 16(a), PDF p.25); “according to it’s meaning” (Section 46(c)(1), PDF p.41); the Prevention of Infiltration Law year printed “4714-1954” (Section 42(a), PDF p.39); “[sizable]” twice (Section 59(b), PDF p.53); “specified bellow” (Section 66(a), PDF p.57); the new Courts Law (c1) text’s “preferable its disclosure” with “to” absent (PDF p.67); “Establisment” in the Section 87 heading (PDF p.69); and the International Legal Assistance Law amendment’s “5765-2004” for the terrorism-financing law (Section 88(1), PDF p.69). Each is recorded as printed, not corrected.
  • The file states no passage date or signatories; commencement is given in section 100 as 30 Tishrei 5777 (1 November 2016) (PDF p.77).
  • Section 101(e)(4) names the repealed detainee law the Criminal Procedure (Detainee Suspected of a Security Offense) “(Emergency Provisions)” Law, 5766-2006 (PDF p.78), where section 75 names it “(Temporary Provisions)” (PDF p.64); both titles are recorded as printed.
  • Section 101(c) and (e)(2) print “Prohibition of Terrorism Financing Law” (PDF p.78), where the Law elsewhere, including sections 74 and 101(b), prints “Prohibition on Terrorism Financing Law”; recorded as printed.
  • Slips as printed in PDF p.70-79, byte-verified in the text copy and confirmed in the original’s text layer: “shall be seen has having been designated” in section 101(a) (PDF p.78), with “has” for “as”; and the bracketed insertions “[shall also act]” (section 95(c), PDF p.73), “[Section 47]” and “[the detainee’s]” and “[of this Law]” (section 99, PDF p.76-77), recorded as printed.

Coverage

PDF p.1-79 of 79, read in full in parts 1-2.

Graph View

Backlinks