Israel Expands Castle Doctrine Protection

Yesterday, Israel's Knesset passed a law expanding the rights of citizens to use force against intruders in their homes and businesses:

"The incident involving Shai Dromi raised awareness of the number of incidents of robberies that became life-threatening and of the distress of Israeli farmers who must deal with crime with almost no recourse," Gabai said after the legislation was approved. "The law attempts to restore deterrent capacity, to make the police's work easier and to reduce crime throughout the country."

"Now, homeowners, ranchers and farmers will be certain that their home is their fortress," Aharonovich said.

But left-wing and Arab parties were less than enthusiastic. MK Zehava Gal-On (Meretz) described the bill as "a death penalty for property crime."

"Thieves and robbers should be punished, but we should not allow property owners to determine an immediate death sentence," said MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al), who mounted a fiery opposition to the bill from the Knesset speaker's podium.

Unlike earlier restrictions on criminal liability in cases of self-defense, under the new law a property owner does not have to face "a real danger to his own or another person's life, freedom, bodily welfare or property" to justify shooting. However, "the provision will not apply if the [property owner's] act was manifestly unreasonable under the circumstances in order to repel the intruder or enterer."

Look for someone to blame the NRA. :)