The Ministerial Committee on Legislation endorsed, Sunday, a bill by Yisrael Beiteinu Knesset-faction chairman Robert Ilatov, which was formulated in cooperation with the Farmers' Union of Israel, to increase the level of punishment for agricultural crimes.
The proposal includes direct compensation from the person convicted of the offense, a longer prison sentence in addition to a fine, setting a minimum punishment for agricultural crime and reducing the value of the minimum damage to punishment for the law to only NIS 50,000. According to Border Police figures, as shown in the comptroller's report, most of the offenses are organized and professional gangs, mostly from the Palestinian Authority. As a result, farmers are unable to file a civil suit against most of the perpetrators.