Zvi Hauser
Zvi HauserAdina Walman/Knesset spokesperson

The Joint Committee of the Foreign and Defense Committee and the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on the Need to Declare an Emergency, led by MK Zvi Hauser (Derech Eretz), today recommended, by a majority vote, that the Knesset plenum return to declare an emergency by tomorrow.

Attorney Eyal Zandberg from the Justice Ministry said at the hearing: "We are working clearly and unequivocally so that all of the powers which the government ministries expect they will need to deal with the plague will be drafted in legislation and brought before the Knesset. In every area there will be a law with a framework and a mechanism. There will be an infrastructure for exercising the powers, without the possibility of it coming into existence with just the declaration."

The chairman of the committee, MK Zvi Hauser, said in summary, "Unlike the first wave of the coronavirus, which was a surprise, and when the Knesset was inactive, the second wave scenario has no surprise and an active introduction. We have written before us the clarification of the legal advice to the government that they are preparing for a second wave of the coronavirus and will take all steps to try and avoid widespread use of the emergency regulations."

"The committee will appeal to all government ministries concerned with the laws and decrees whose validity depends on declaring the state of emergency, requiring within two weeks to submit the timetable they need to bring the same laws and orders to the Knesset," he added.

"I intend to establish a subcommittee for this joint committee, which will have a number of Knesset members who will consistently review the repeal of laws and regulations in order to stop extending the emergency every year."