MK Eitan Broshi (Hamachaneh Hatzioni) has proposed a law that would increase the level of seriousness of the punishment for people who loot a home or a business that was evacuated due to danger from a natural disaster or war. Natural disaster includes fire, flooding and earthquake. The punishment Broshi wants to set into law would be 7 years imprisonment.

Broshi explains that recently thousands of homes had to be evacuated because of the raging fires. In the past there were other reasons. Often these homes and businesses sit empty with no protection. This causes families to delay evacuating as they worry about all their belongings, thus putting themselves into great danger.

The current law does not differentiate between theft from homes that were evacuated due to such disasters or any other type of theft. Changing the punishment to a harsher sentence will send the message that looting in such situations is far more serious, and it will create a sense of deterrence.

26 other MKs, from both sides of the political divide, have signed on to this bill.
source: Maariv