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Last update - 00:00 16/06/2008 A license to kill By Haaretz Editorial Tags: Knesset, Shai Dromi, Israel Last Wednesday, the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee approved the "Shai Dromi law" for a second and third reading in the plenum. The law grants an exemption from criminal responsibility to anyone who harms a person who has broken into his home, his business or a fenced-off farm. The proposal was approved with the support of the ministerial committee on legislation, and pressure came from the powerful farmers' lobby. It is difficult to find anyone in the law-enforcement system who is not opposed to the text that was approved. For example, at a meeting last November of the Knesset law committee, a representative of the Internal Security Ministry's legal adviser warned that the bill greatly increased the risk that a person "would take the law into his own hands." On January 13, 2007, Shai Dromi, the owner of a sheep farm in the Negev, shot at thieves who had broken into his farm, killing one of them and wounding another. Dromi was tried for manslaughter. The affair gave rise to a wave of protests over the powerlessness of farmers in the face of thieves. Four draft laws were approved last February in a preliminary reading, aimed at exempting from punishment a person who had harmed burglars who entered his house, yard or farm. They were combined into the present draft law, which will be brought before the Knesset plenum for approval in the coming days and is expected to be approved without difficulty. The new law would extend the protection given, in the regular course of self-defense, in two ways: First, it does not require that the person defending himself from a thief be in concrete danger; and, second, it exempts from being brought to trial even someone who acted in an unreasonable fashion. Only a person whose behavior was patently unreasonable would face trial. The law committee turned down another, more moderate proposal that was supported by representatives of the state prosecution, which extended the exemption from criminal responsibility of someone who harmed a burglar who had broken into his home, but not into his business or farm. The "Shai Dromi law" is an example of the well-known danger that difficult cases will create bad laws. First, it is not at all clear that it deals with a real problem. A police check did not reveal even one further case of an indictment against a person who had defended his home or property from a thief. The penal code, in any event, protects anyone who shoots in self-defense, so there is no need whatsoever for the new law to protect the rights of someone who is defending himself. On the other hand, there is a fear it will encourage people to fire at someone to protect property, or to punish the thieves, and that it will thus create a violent and dangerous reality. There is no death penalty in Israel, but the "Dromi law" opens up the possibility of making one applicable, without a trial, for a relatively light offense such as burglary. Advertisement The solution for police incompetence in dealing with farm theft or burglary of elderly people's homes cannot be found in handing over their authority to the citizen. The new law will lead to killing to no avail, and could include people accidentally harming members of their own family. True, a man's home is his castle, and he has to be granted the right of self-defense therein, but it is not permissible to shed the blood of someone who enters the house, even if he is a burglar. The place of thieves is in prison, but they must not be turned into the victims of executions. Nor is it reasonable to extend the rights granted to a person in his home to his yard, store or flock as well. The "Shai Dromi law" is therefore an example of populist legislation that is superfluous and dangerous. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Military in denial IDF chief Ashkenazi refuses to believe IDF troops harmed Gaza civilians in cold blood. Coalitional contention Labor demands chairmanship of key Knesset committee promised to Lieberman.   1.   Absolutely right 12:47  |  GRW 16/06/08   2.   Good now i can take a pot shot at the charideem callers 13:42  |  Citizen Joe 16/06/08   3.   Shai Dromi is an UZBEK (Turkic) not a Semite! 14:18  |  Tayfun_Turkey 16/06/08   4.   OH! I UNDERSTAND, THE 14:35  |  Robert 16/06/08   5.   THE ONLY WAY TO STOP ARAB THIEVES IS A GOOD AIMED BULLET!!! 15:11  |  Pinchas Berg 16/06/08   6.   Farmers reponse 15:18  |  Yogev 16/06/08   7.   Burglary is not a minor offense 15:20  |  Joseph 16/06/08   8.   self defence 15:54  |  andre 16/06/08   9.   Shai is a good man who was in an impossible situation 20:14  |  Friend of Shai Dromi 16/06/08   10.   burglars 20:35  |  fish 16/06/08   11.   prooof Israel doesn`t discriminate 00:27  |  potobac 17/06/08   12.   Self- Protection 12:06  |  Samir S.Halabi 24/03/09

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