The Bennett-Lapid government suffered a major defeat on Monday morning when a vital security bill failed to pass in a committee vote.
The coalition hoped to fast-track the Citizenship Law for a vote in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee but it was voted down 17 to 14 in the Arrangements Committee. The bill is now slated to face a vote of all 120 MKs in the Knesset on Monday evening.
The Citizenship Law, or Family Reunification Law, which bans Palestinians who marry Israeli-Arabs from automatically earning Israeli citizenship, expires on Tuesday.
The Citizenship Law is a vital bill for Israel’s security since in the past, Palestinian spouses and children who gained Israeli citizenship through “family reunification” have been found to be involved in a disproportionate number of terror incidents compared to the Israeli-Arab population. The law has been passed every year since 2003.
However, the coalition’s Islamist Ra’am Party, the far-left Meretz party, and some MKs from the Labor party are opposed to the bill. The opposition, despite supporting the bill in principle, are voting against the bill as part of their efforts to embarrass the new government or even topple it.
The opposition’s decision has elicited fierce criticism from members of the coalition, who say that the opposition MKs are endangering Israel’s security for the sake of political games.
The outcome of tonight’s vote is uncertain as opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu has not yet announced how the Likud will vote, with some MKs opposed to voting against a bill so vital for national security and others possibly interested in undermining Netanyahu’s decision due to their own ambitions to usurp him. Likud MK Avi Dichter has expressed his opposition to voting against the bill for security reasons, and according to a Channel 20 report, MKs Nir Barkat and Yuli Edelstein fall in the latter category.
The Chareidi parties and the Religious Zionist Party are committed to voting against the bill.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
Major Blow For Gov’t</em? כן ירבו
May haSHem Bless all those holy hands in the picture
“The opposition, despite supporting the bill in principle, are voting against the bill as part of their efforts to embarrass the new government or even topple it.” So politics over people and principle?
“The opposition’s decision has elicited fierce criticism from members of the coalition, who say that the opposition MKs are endangering Israel’s security for the sake of political games.“
And having Arabs in the coalition doesn’t?
By voting against the bill the chareidi and religious zionist parties are showing their true colors and making their priorities clear. They can’t hide behind a facade of caring about Israel or its citizens. They’re showing that their desire for political power is more important than the safety of the people they’re supposed to represent in the Knesset. Even Yair Lapid when he was in the opposition didn’t vote against this bill.
it failed in the vaada. tomorrow it will (hopefully) fail in the knesset