New coalition unable to extend ban on Palestinian family reunification

T. Belman.  This law must be extended. Everybody is playing hardball. Ra’am is bluffing because it doesn’t want to jeopardize all the goodies it is getting. Is Shaked right when she says that Netanyahu will vote with the government? My guess is that Changes to the law aren’t needed and Ra’am will go along with it.

In bid to embarrass new government, opposition parties refuse to vote for law even though they support it; Ra’am opposes law and won’t vote with coalition partners

By TOI STAFF

Israel's new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (L) talks with Mansour Abbas, head of the Islamic Raam party during a special session to vote on the new government at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on June 13, 2021. (EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP)

Israel’s new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (L) talks with Mansour Abbas, head of the Islamic Raam party during a special session to vote on the new government at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on June 13, 2021. (EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP)

The new unity government failed in its efforts Wednesday to extend a law barring Palestinians who marry Israeli citizens from receiving citizenship.

Coalition chairman Idit Silman (Yamina) was forced to pull the measure from the Knesset Arrangements Committee agenda upon realizing that she did not have enough votes for it to pass. While the right-wing opposition parties of Likud and Religious Zionism support extending the law, they decided to embarrass the coalition by announcing ahead of time that they would not back the measure.

The new coalition was forced to seek the support of the opposition because the Islamist Ra’am party opposes the law and would not vote with its partners.

Family reunification in Israel typically involves an Israeli citizen requesting citizenship for his or her non-Israeli spouse. Most unification applications are submitted by Arab Israelis on behalf of a Palestinian spouse living in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip.

The process of family reunification for Palestinians has been made more stringent in recent years due to concerns it was being abused by terror groups to gain access to Israel.

Critics call the law racist and say it is an attempt by Israel to keep the number of the Arab citizens down.

Likud MK Miki Zohar told coalition representatives that his party was prepared to support the law if the government backed his legislation to legalize dozens of wildcat outposts in the West Bank. The majority of parties in the unity government oppose such measures expanding Israeli presence beyond the Green Line.

Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Likud MK Miki Zohar at a meeting of opposition parties in Netanyahu’s right wing-religious bloc, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on June 14, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Mocking the apparent early paralysis of the unity government, Zohar tweeted that it “is simply unable to maintain the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.”

“Because of the illusory composition of Bennett’s weak government, it is unable, already on the third day of its existence, to pass an extension of the Family Reunification Law to prevent the naturalization of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and illegal infiltrators, something that will eliminate the Jewish state,” the Likud party tweeted, providing no sourcing for its figures.

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked (Yamina) pledged to move forward with the legislation, saying it would be brought for a vote next week.

“I do not imagine that the opposition will harm the security of the country in the name of political games,” she tweeted. “I have no doubt that the head of the opposition [Benjamin Netanyahu] will keep his word that on matters of Israeli security ‘there is no opposition and no coalition. On these matters, we are all a united front.’”

The Kan public broadcaster reported that the government was working on a compromise with Ra’am in which they would present the party with a series of reforms to the law, in a bid to get its members to abstain.

June 17, 2021 | 6 Comments »

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6 Comments / 6 Comments

  1. Shaked: Likud dares to oppose law vital to Israel’s security
    Coalition, opposition continue to trade barbs over Citizenship Law which bars reunification of PA families in Israel.
    Tags: Ayelet Shaked Likud
    Arutz Sheva Staff , Jun 17 , 2021 9:32 PM

    The Citizenship Law, which bans the unification of Palestinian Arab and Israeli Arab families, is expected to be put to a vote in the Knesset next week, but the coalition is still struggling to make sure that its extension is approved. The Likud is willing to vote together with the coalition only on the condition that they receive in return support for another initiative that they are interested in promoting.

    Minister Ayelet Shaked has strongly criticized the Likud’s refusal to unequivically back the law, stating in closed conversations: “We see the Likud daring to vote against a law that prevents Palestinians from entering Israel through family reunification.”

    Likud MK Yoav Kish told Reshet Bet that the time has come to make the law permanent instead of voting to extend it every year,

    “The law is good and preserves the character of the state, and should be anchored in a permanent law and not in a temporary order,” Kish said.

    ”Maybe we’ll support if they do it permanently and not as a temporary order. I said that if they promote the young settlements in Judea and Samaria – I am ready for him to keep his one promise, if he does it we will give him backing and we can help them in this case,” Kish added.

    Bennett and Shaked need the help of opposition members in passing the law, due to opposition to it in the United Arab List and among some Meretz members. MK Musi Raz of Meretz told Reshet Bet: “It is a discriminatory law and it must pass from the world, but we are a coalition, we will make decisions that will reflect the will of all parties.”

    Defense Minister Benny Gantz today addressed Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu and urged him to act to pass the law in the Knesset. “Security must be put above all political considerations,” Gantz wrote in a statement.

    The Likud responded: “

    Whoever values Israel’s security shouldn’t be forming a government with Ra’am

    .”

    Isn’t it funny how the last two lines have Gantz and the Likud attacking each other with whole truths?

  2. The bill that the opposition has introduced is damage control to show that they don’t prevent the extension or passing of the citizenship law introduced by the government but merely introduce a much better law than the “leftists”.

    I am wondering whether their “all-encompassing law”, if passed, would be able to severely restrict aliyah and the possible illegal entry (out of desperation) into Israel (the “Jewish” country) of the Jews persecuted in the Diaspora?

    I don’t want the place to be turned into another Mandatory Palestine.

    I mean, the Jewish state hasn’t been encouraging aliyah as it is, it seems to be a lot more interested in making life cozy for their 2 million Arabs.

    Imagine if Israel now had 2 million more Jews, most of them living in Judea and Samaria!

  3. Interestingly a new sweeping comprehensive immigration bill is being introduced by the opposition. From the outline I read it sounds very solid and an improvement.

    The bill will, for the first time in a Basic Law, lay down the general rules regarding entry into Israel, who will have the powers to prohibit entry into Israel, the manner in which entry into Israel may be prohibited, and the manner in which the citizenship of an Israeli citizen may be revoked.

    https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/308298

  4. Ra’am definitely won’t go along with it. Their agenda is to flood Israel with enough Arabs to transform it into “Palestine.” Bibi and the opposition are self-destructive assholes. They were given a chance to get this law passed and they blew it. “A plague on both your houses” (Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet)>

  5. It’s tit-for-tat time. If you won’t support my pet project, I won’t support yours. We have been expecting this all along

  6. I don’t understand the problem.
    The “Israelis” who marry Arabs should be welcome to move to the “Palestinian” territory to unify with their Arab families.