"The fact that there is a uniqueness in the history of the Jewish people should not be ignored. And we must not forget what happened to the Jewish people, especially in the last generation... We cannot forget that this sick phenomenon, which eats away at every good part of people and their culture, whose artificial name is anti-Semitism and refers to hatred
Jews, it has not passed from the world... We must be very careful lest an injustice be done even to a person who has committed an offense" (D.C. 79 (5737) 1452 of February 9, 1977).
This normative situation, which lasted for more than two decades until the amendment of the law in 1999, created serious probleMs. The main one was that Israel became a haven for criminals who, for various reasons, could not be prosecuted here, and after they had been granted Israeli citizenship, they could no longer be extradited. This also resulted in a violation by Israel of extradition treaties to which it is a party, including with the United States, in which it was explicitly agreed that citizenship was not grounds for non-extradition (Article 4 of the Convention). These problems were revealed in all their intensity in the Sheinbein case, in which the case of an American teenager with Israeli citizenship who was suspected in the United States of committing murder and in connection with the commission of murder, and who fled to Israel, was discussed. Formally, he could have been prosecuted here, but in practice it would have been difficult if not impossible. The judgment in this case, which was handed down in early 1999 and ruled that Sheinbein should not be extradited to the United States, strengthened the recognition of the need to amend the extradition law.
The law was indeed amended shortly thereafter (the Extradition Law (Amendment No. 6), 3 Iyar 5759 (April 19, 1999)). The protection for Israeli citizens has been significantly reduced, in the sense that they are no longer prohibited from being extradited abroad, but rather that anyone who was an Israeli citizen and resident at the time of the extradition request was filed, and who was convicted abroad after being extradited, will be returned to Israel to serve his sentence. The process was completed in 2001 (the Extradition Law (Amendment No. 7), 5761-2001), when the law was amended once again and stipulated in its current version, according to which protection is given only to those who met the conditions of citizenship and residency at the time the offense was committed.
- In its new version, the law expressed a fundamental change in perception. The abandonment of the "citizenship approach," which, as I noted, is no longer appropriate, was enshrined in the law. In recognition of the issue of Israeli criminals not being prosecuted abroad, as a defense of the "persecuted Jew" - The language of MK Begin in the discussion of the 5738 amendment (d.k., Name), the amended law emphasizes the prevention of "... The cynical use that certain Israeli citizens make of the special status of citizenship..." - The words of Minister of Justice Z. Hanegbi in presenting the 5759 amendment before the Knesset (D.C. 173 (5758) 7084). The change reflected the Israeli extradition institution's distancing itself from the "citizenship restriction," which originated in continental law (see my remarks). President Barak In the matter Sheinbein [44], p. 641), towards the dominant approach in common law countries, in which the relationship of citizenship has only a weak status, and is secondary to the purpose of the need for effective enforcement
(See also the explanatory notes to the Amendment 5759 - The Extradition Bill (Amendment No. 6) (Exception to the Extradition of a Citizen), 5758-1998).