The Constitution, Law and Justice Committee approved for the first reading the bill withholding funding from the State of Israel for the representation of terrorism suspects and defendants, as initiated by MK Simcha Rothman, committee chairman, and a group of MKs.
To be noted that the original bill intended to establish that security prisoners arrested during the Swords of Iron War would not be entitled to be represented by the public defender, but during the debate Chairman Rothman expanded the law and stated that anyone who is not a citizen or resident of the State of Israel, who has committed or is suspected of committing act of terrorism, will not be entitled to state funding for his representation, and that the salary for the lawyer representing him will be paid from funds that will be frozen for the Palestinian Authority.
The law, supported by MKs Rothman, Erez Malul, Avraham Bezalel and Matan Kahana, was approved. MK Gilad Kariv was present in the committee hall, but did not participate in the vote.
The courts administration revealed during the hearing that the total amount awarded from the state treasury so far for funding legal fees for private defense attorneys who represented the October 7th detainees is estimated at about one million Shekels.