Israel modifies decision to suspend Freedom of Information Law due to ‘war’
Israel’s Justice Ministry Sunday announced it will only suspend the Freedom of Information Law for one month instead of three as originally planned.
According to the 1998 law, Israel public authorities are generally required to respond to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests within 30 days. They can, however, postpone answering requests for another 30 days arbitrarily and can defer a further 60 days if they provide a reason, totaling a period of four months.
Israeli media report that “even normally, many public bodies and government offices do not comply with this schedule established by the Freedom of Information Law.”
In a memo published last month, the Justice Ministry said it intended to freeze the law for 90 days from the date of the October 7th massacre to “enable public authorities and the population in Israel to continue functioning properly during this period." This would have given authorities seven months during which they would not have to respond to taxpayers’ FOI requests.
But after a public backlash which included over 4,000 written objections, the Justice Ministry has decided to instead freeze the law until Tuesday, November 7th, one month from the massacre. Public authorities will now have four more months to legally defer answering any FOI requests.
The decision to suspend the FOI law over the war came soon after Israel’s Communications Ministry also used the war as a pretext to propose arresting taxpayers who criticize the government.
Israel Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi drafted regulations last month that would allow authorities to arrest taxpaying citizens and seize their property for “harming national morale.”
According to the regulations titled “Limiting Aid to the Enemy through Communication,” members of the public or media who disseminate information that "undermines the morale of Israel's soldiers and residents in the face of the enemy" or "serves as a basis for enemy propaganda, including the spreading of the enemy's propaganda messages" or "aids the enemy in its war against Israel, its residents, or Jews" will be guilty of a criminal offense.
Regardless of the information’s veracity, the communications minister will be authorized to order the arrest of the information source and seize equipment used to spread the information.
The proposed regulations, which were drafted after consultation with Israel National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, come as 80% of Israelis reportedly blame the government for the October 7th attacks in which Muslim invaders massacred over 1,400 Israelis.
