Proposed Law: attacking soldiers

MK Yoel Rzvazov (Yesh Atid) has proposed a law that is described, by Ladaat, as populist (rather than out of a true concern for the beneficiaries).

The proposal is that any attack on a soldier would get a harsher punishment than the normal law already on the books and would be subject to up to 10 years in prison, depending on the nature of the attack - if attacking with a weapon, if attacking with multiple assailants, or if the soldiers is on active duty when attacked.

Yesh Atid says making this punishment harsher will create a deterrent.

Yesh Atid says that under the current law, attacking a public servant, among which is included a soldier, is punishable by up to 7 years, but nobody ever expected a situation in which soldiers would be attacked like they are today and this would need to be dealt with, but today there are sectors of extremists that violently attack soldiers found in their areas or nearby, whether on duty or not. Therefore, it is necessary now to separate soldiers from the regular public servant law and make the offense bear a harsher punishment.

Of course we all know this won't pass, as the Haredi parties will not allow the coalition to support such a law proposed by Yesh Atid. And, they have never before supported any similar proposal, despite saying they oppose violence against soldiers.

However, in their defense, if the assailants do not care about a potential 7 year prison sentence for attacking soldiers, it is unlikely turning it into a potential ten year sentence will make any difference. In a certain sense they are right - there is a law already on the books that is not being enforced. Instead of writing new laws, just enforce the laws that are already on the books.

And then the Haredi askanim and politicians need to stop working to get anybody arrested for such things released.

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