According to Israel Hayom, a new bill stipulates that when a person claims that content uploaded to the internet constitutes an injustice against him or a violation of the Defamation Prohibition Law - he can apply to the court to oblige the Internet provider to disclose the details of the person who published the offending content.
The signatories to the law are mostly from the New Hope party (Michal Shir, Zvika Hauser and Yitzhak Meir Halevi), in addition to two from Blue and White (Yael Ron Ben Moshe and Rut Wasserman Landa) and one MK from Yesh Atid (Meirav Ben Ari).
The law was put before the Knesset presidency's table about a month ago, but according to political sources, its signatories decided not to promote it so as not to provoke public anger again after the outcry against the Facebook Law, which was approved in the Ministerial Committee on Legislation.
The explanatory memorandum to the law reads: "It is proposed that a person who claims that content uploaded to an electronic communications network, or its distribution, constitutes a tort or violation under the Prohibition of Defamation Law, may apply to the court to oblige the ISP to disclose the details of the person who published the allegedly infringing content. "
Those proposing the law emphasize that "prior to such a proceeding, the victim may contact the communications network directly and ask it to find out if the subscriber agrees to disclose his details. If there is agreement, then the legal process of revealing will be rendered extraneous, and the victim will be able to continue in a regular legal process according to the Prohibition on Defamation Law. If the publisher of the content refuses to disclose his details, then the victim can apply to the court with a request to disclose the details."
The bill is expected to make waves in the political system. "Not only raising taxes and the cost of living, this coalition has also developed expertise in dictatorship and silencing voices," says Likud MK Ophir Katz. "Instead of listening to the public that suffers because of them, they prefer to silence it. That's how cowards deal with criticism and contempt from the public."
"If Michal Shir and her party continue with such laws, not only will they not pass the electoral threshold, they will not reach a quarter of a seat. Their jealousy of Netanyahu and the Likud brings them to a simply shameful situation. This is North Korea on steroids."
MK Itamar Ben Gvir (Religious Zionism) believes that "the bill has a worthy and important purpose - but in the proposed wording it can turn Israel into a dictatorship. On the one hand, justice must be enacted and the 'Rami Mor' rule, that allowed cowardly shaming perpetrators to hide in a cloak of anonymity on the net, must be changed, but on the other hand - the bill in its wording is a ticking bomb that will allow the silencing of voices online and turn Israel into a dictatorship. According to the proposal, even those who write legitimate criticism or even share a tweet or post, are exposed to lawsuits and demands for details, and it will not be long before people are afraid to express legitimate criticism against public figures, judges, politicians and anyone who should be exposed to criticism."
"If the test is the 'good faith' of the applicant - as it is written in the wording of the proposers - there will be abuse here, and if the bill passes in its wording, Israel will start looking like a third world country in which anyone who writes something against the government will be exposed and stigmatized."
According to sources familiar with the issue, in contrast to the Facebook law - which speaks of violation of individual, public or state security - this deals with "defamation", whose definition is broad. That is, if it is written, for example, that the prime minister is "bad" - the prime minister can claim that this is defamation and demand the removal of the writer's anonymity.
