The Knesset plenum on Tuesday gave final approval to the National Insurance Bill (Amendment No. 222), which determines that the immediate family members of a person who died while saving another person’s life will be eligible for benefits.
The bill, sponsored by Member of Knesset Michael Malchieli and a group of other lawmakers, passed its second and third readings by a vote of 16-0.
The bill concerns the granting of benefits to the parents and other family members of those who lost their lives while extending help to a person in danger, following recent incidents of heroism in the country in which the deceased rescuer’s family were not given any financial compensation for their selfless act.
The benefits the families will be eligible to receive will be determined in regulations that will be submitted to the Labor, Welfare and Health Committee by the end of the year.
The Minister of Labor will be authorized to establish regulations benefits also for people who are injured under similar circumstances.
According to data provided by the National Insurance Institute, there have been some 20 cases in Israel’s history in which civilians were killed or injured while saving someone’s life.
The approved bill deals with cases in which the deceased did not act within a voluntary framework.
The law will apply retroactively to cases that occurred since the beginning of 2018, including the cases of Moti Ben Shabbat, who died while saving others during the floods in Nahariya in January 2020, and Michael Ben Zikri, who died as he saved a mother and her three children from drowning in a lake in July 2020.
“I have passed more than a few laws in the Knesset, and I am thrilled to stand here and pass this law in the second and third readings,” Malchieli told the plenum prior to the vote.
“We are being seen now by Mrs. Ben Shabbat and the Ben Zikri family. The families know that the 23rd Knesset ended with something good,” he added.