The aforesaid is also true with respect to the defense's claim of an empty circular definition, an argument that attacks the syntactic wording of the law and attempts to claim "normative emptiness." I cannot accept the interpretation of the defense according to which the legislature did not define anything in its definition of "member of a terrorist organization" when it replaced one word ("member") with a word synonymous with it ("is a member"), thus leaving an empty space in which there is no "list of acts" of what is forbidden and a person has no idea what is forbidden about him.
Criminal law recognizes the need for valve concepts or framework definitions that are filled in by the court in accordance with the changing circumstances. Just as the term "negligence" in tort law does not define any prohibited action but rather sets a standard, so "a member of" establishes a test of belonging and a standard of organizational affiliation. The question the court asks is not "whether the defendant is a member because he is a member," but rather "whether the facts (self-assertion, use of ISIS terminology; operative manuals; and dialogue with terror supporters) indicate that he is part of the organization's human mass."
The argument that the definition does not add "nothing" is inconsistent with the box "including" which clarifies that the prefix "is a member" is the essence, and the conclusion (sections 1 and 2) are the examples that illustrate the intention. In effect, the legislature says that membership is a state of belonging (the essence), and this affiliation can be seen, for example, when someone acts as a representative or swears allegiance to another. The very existence of self-demonstrating alternatives teaches that the definition is not circular, but rather that it defines a principle and then demonstrates it.
If the Haganah's interpretation of the definition of a member of a terrorist organization was "closed," such as "a member is only a person who holds a plastic membership card," we would grant immunity to any terrorist organization that changes its recruitment method (as ISIS did).