Today (Wednesday), the Knesset plenum passed the Counter-Terrorism Law on the final second and third votes, prohibiting systematic and ongoing consumption of specific materials published by Hamas and ISIS praising, admiring, or encouraging terrorist actions or documentation terrorist actions accompanying this consumption.
The law does state that random or good faith consumption or consumption for an appropriate purpose is not included in this prohibition. The section of the law proposal discussing the division of authority between the state prosecution and the police prosecution regarding the enforcement of the Counter-Terrorism Law was split off and will be separately discussed in the Constitutional Committee.
The explanatory preamble to the law states that “this temporary order was meant to enable, for a limited period of two years after which the need for its extension will be examined, another tool in the struggle against terrorism, with an emphasis on individual terrorist attacks, characterized by the perpetrators of terrorist acts, in general, not belonging to terrorist organizations but rather the motivation for carrying out the actions derives from intensive consumption of terrorist publications of terrorist organizations with particular characteristics.”
“This need is magnified by the current security situation and the fear that it will be exploited by those terrorist organizations. Intensive viewing of terrorist publications of specific organizations could create a process of indoctrination, a kind of self-“brainwashing,” bringing the desire and motive to carry out an act of terror to a very high level of maturity, with the ultimate trigger bringing the consumer of terror contents to carry out a terrorist action possibly being a random factor which cannot be predicted or prevented in advance.”
Another Law Passed: Transfer of Information to the National Headquarters for Economic Warfare Against Terrorism
Another law passed adds the National Headquarters for Economic Warfare Against Terrorism to the list of bodies which can be directly given information from the Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority, as well as the list of bodies providing an annual report to the Constitutional Committee on various issues.
The law’s explanatory preamble states that “the proposed amendment is needed to enable the direct transfer of information to the National Headquarters (National Headquarters for Economic Warfare Against Terrorism), without the need to receive it indirectly via the police. As noted, the National headquarters is occupied on a regular basis with activity means to prevent the establishment of financial infrastructures of terrorist organizations and locate such infrastructures.”
“Among other things, the National Headquarters forms an evidentiary basis for the Defense Ministry for declaring terrorist organizations, and for the sake of this activity there is importance in the information from the Authority be delivered to the National Headquarters directly, and not through the Israel Police. Transfer through the Israel Police does not allow rapid and efficient transfer of information and may disrupt the operation of the National Headquarters as a clearing house body for all information in the possession of different enforcement and investigative bodies regarding terrorist property.”