An Israeli citizen convicted of acts of terrorism will have to wait 14 years from the day he or she finishes serving their prison sentence before vying for a seat in the Knesset, according to a bill being proposed by Likud MK Anat Berko.
Both coalition and opposition lawmakers support the bill, which passed its first Knesset reading on Monday with a vote of 83-13. The Joint Arab List's 13 MKs were the only ones to vote against it.
"This is an important, vital bill that will prevent people like former MK Basel Ghattas from being elected again," Berko said when she presented her bill to the Knesset plenum. She was referring to the former MK from the Joint Arab List who was convicted last year of smuggling cellular phones to Palestinian security prisoners.
"Terrorist crimes undermine the very existence of the state and harm its citizens' well-being for the sake of ideology. People convicted of terrorism must not be allowed to make their way into the Knesset again," she said.
