The Knesset’s chief legal adviser warned Wednesday that the latest version of legislation addressing the arrest of bnei yeshivah departs so dramatically from the original draft law that advancing it could effectively nullify months of committee work and force the next Knesset to restart deliberations on draft legislation from scratch.

The warning came during a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, which continued its deliberations on a bill freezing the arrest of Torah students. The proposal was carved out of the broader draft law, but the discussion quickly shifted from the bill itself to questions about whether the legislative process remains legally sound.

Knesset Legal Adviser Sagit Afik presented a sharply critical legal opinion, arguing that the proposal now before lawmakers bears little resemblance to the version developed through months of committee deliberations.

“The text that was formulated after 86 committee meetings has effectively been replaced by an entirely different arrangement,” Afik said. She added that the new proposal “is almost entirely inconsistent with the objectives of the original bill.”

Afik acknowledged that circumstances may have changed during the lengthy legislative process and that new realities could require a different legal framework. However, she argued that such changes should be introduced through a separate piece of legislation rather than by fundamentally rewriting an existing bill.

“They are placing a new arrangement onto the skeleton of the previous draft,” she said, noting that the compressed timetable before the expected dissolution of the current Knesset appears to be driving the change.

According to Afik, the problem extends beyond procedural concerns. She said the integrity of the legislative process depends on maintaining a connection between the bill originally debated and the legislation ultimately approved. Replacing the substance of the proposal with an entirely different framework, she argued, undermines that process.

She also warned that the Knesset cannot legislate only part of the broader issue while leaving central elements—such as enforcement and sanctions—unresolved.

Addressing the proposed oversight and enforcement mechanisms, Afik noted that lawmakers have long argued that no effective enforcement system currently exists. She questioned whether such a framework could realistically be designed within just three months under a temporary emergency measure, calling it “a difficult challenge.”

Afik further argued that the committee must be presented with a full factual record demonstrating both the necessity and urgency of the new proposal before proceeding. She said lawmakers must ensure that the legislation is supported by sufficient evidence rather than being driven solely by political deadlines.

Concluding her remarks, Afik cautioned that if the committee advances only the narrower proposal now before it, the practical result would be to erase all of the committee’s previous work on the broader draft legislation. She said the earlier versions could no longer benefit from legislative continuity, meaning the next Knesset would have to begin consideration of the draft law all over again.

{Matzav.com}