The Ministerial Committee for Legislation will consider proposed legislation on Sunday that would grant immunity from criminal prosecution to soldiers, police officers and Shin Bet security service agents for acts carried out in the course of military or law enforcement operations.

The bill states in part that "a member of the security forces shall not be held criminal liable, shall not be interrogated as a suspect and shall be immune from any legal action for an act or order given while carrying out his job in the course of an operational activity."

>> Editorial: The bill to protect Elor Azaria

The sponsors of the bill, Shuli Moalem-Refaeli (Habayit Hayehudi) and Robert Ilatov (Yisrael Beiteinu) said that the case of Elor Azaria demonstrates the need for the bill. Azaria, who was a soldier at the time, was convicted of manslaughter after shooting and killing a subdued and wounded terrorist in Hebron in 2016.

The purpose of the law, the bill's sponsors said, is to confine any investigation in a similar case to the military rather than making it a criminal case.

"One cannot accept a situation in which a member of the security forces who concludes his task in an operational or terrorist incident is [then] handcuffed at the scene," the sponsors said.

"One cannot accept a situation in which members of the security forces are interrogated in lengthy interrogations in drawn-out proceedings when decisions in their cases are made by jurists and not senior officers with combat experience and knowledge of the dynamics that develop on the battlefield and who have experienced incidents similar to those that the security forces have gone through," the bill's sponsors added.

The immunity would only be granted to combat soldiers and commanders from the security forces who are involved in an operational or terrorist incident. It would not grant immunity for criminal offenses such as theft, looting, abuse or violence against an uninvolved bystander.

The Knesset members also propose the convening of a panel headed by a reserve major general to consider cases involving alleged acts committed maliciously or in bad faith in the course of an operation.

The proposed bill is based on the Israel Defense Forces' data indicating that 59% of combat soldiers believe they would not get the backing of their commanders if they commit an operational error.