The Knesset overnight approved in its second and third readings a bill amending the Police Ordinance to prohibit the police from using skunk spray at protests.

The bill was originally initiated and advanced by former UTJ MK Eliyahu Baruchi. After Baruchi left the Knesset under the Norwegian Law and the Chareidi parties exited the government, the bill was advanced by Degel HaTorah chairman MK Moshe Gafni in coordination with the Israel Police, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, and the ministry’s legal team. MKs from across the political spectrum—coalition and opposition—joined the bill, and it passed 11-O.

The law regulates, for the first time, the use of water cannons to disperse protests, conditioning their use on clean water only, without the addition of any substances, including dye, odor agents (skunk), or other substances.

The bill also requires the police to video every use of water cannons and to retain the footage for at least one year. The footage will be made available to any citizen who claims to have been harmed by its use and seeks to pursue legal action against the police.

Disturbing data were presented showing unequal use of water cannons against protesters in Israel during the committee deliberations in the National Security Committee. The committee also received a special report prepared by the Knesset Research and Information Center at the request of former MK Baruchi, stating that Israel is the only country in the world that uses skunk for crowd dispersal. The report noted that the active ingredient in the substance is produced by a lone supplier, the private Israeli Odortec company, and its components remain classified even from government ministries such as the Health Ministry and the Environmental Protection Ministry.

In November 2024, Prof. Shlomo Magdassi of the Hebrew University’s Institute of Chemistry conducted laboratory tests on skunk spray. His findings showed that skunk contains toxic, flammable, and hazardous materials that can cause significant short‑term health effects, including damage to the central nervous system, eye and respiratory irritation, and—if ingested—vomiting and pneumonia.

Former MK Baruchi led, together with UTJ and opposition MKs, a prolonged campaign to regulate police use of water cannons, calling them at times “a tool for dispersing Chareidim.”

In one of his speeches on the issue, Baruchi said: “It is no secret that in Israel, the water‑cannon has long since shifted from its original purpose of maintaining public order to becoming a violent tool used without proper regulation, with skunk liquid used only in Israel, under complete secrecy regarding its chemical composition, applied unequally, without documentation or oversight, and causing severe economic and physical harm to hundreds and thousands of citizens and to infrastructure unrelated to public disturbances.”

He added: “This bill seeks to restore the water cannon to its original purpose, enabling the police to maintain public order…”

The explanatory notes to the bill state: “Although police procedures regulate the use of water cannons to prevent unnecessary harm to people, over the years demonstrators and bystanders have been injured during their use.”

“In certain cases, substances other than water were sprayed, including dye, pepper mist, or pepper liquid, and at times even a foul-smelling liquid, known as “skunk,” is deployed, which lingers in the air and on the clothing of demonstrators at whom it is sprayed. It should be noted that skunk spray is not used in any other countries.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)