A dangerous exercise

The exercise carried out by MKs Zehava Gal-On (Meretz), Ahmad Tibi (Ra'am-Ta'al) and Dov Khenin (Hadash) on Tuesday in the Knesset, which bypassed the gag order on the suicide of an Australian citizen in an Israeli prison and took advantage of the broad immunity granted to elected officials by virtue of their office, is potentially dangerous.

In this case, their publicity apparently caused no real damage, because the story had earlier been revealed by Australian newspapers, on the Internet, on Facebook and Twitter. But perhaps tomorrow, these MKs will exercise similar privileges in the Knesset, with confidential information that could cause political, economic or security damage to Israel.

It is no secret that even though the Knesset is supposed to be one of the most transparent institutions, with its deliberations conducted in public, some discussions are held behind closed doors. The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and the Security Subcommittee are sometimes convened secretly. Sometimes in these meetings, confidential or sensitive information is passed on that is unknown to the public and could cause serious damage. There are enough irresponsible MKs, by the way, who learn this information and decide to share it for their own political gain, despite having heard it being closed Knesset doors.

Who can ensure that there will not be irresponsible MKs in the future who would exploit their immunity? We have seen such cases in the past. Just remember how former MK Yosef Ba-Gad revealed confidential information about Nachshon Waxman, the soldier who was kidnapped and killed by Hamas in 1994, at the Knesset podium.

I do not believe, God forbid, that we should reduce MKs' immunity, nor set a law that such immunity does not apply to the disclosure of information for which a court has set a gag order on it, nor even prosecute an MK who would reveal such information. But I do believe that all MKs, regardless of their views, must act responsibly, and not abuse the armor of immunity granted them. They must not bypass gag orders, especially on issues that are better left unspoken about; there is some information that could travel with speed to unwanted ears and cause us diplomatic, security or economic harm.