T. Belman. This a good deal for Bennett. Abbas, didn’t want the government to fail so early on as I previously suggested, making him easy pickings for a compromise.
Government appears poised to pass law barring PA residents from gaining Israeli citizenship via marriage – despite Likud opposition.
Arutz Sheva Staff , Jun 22 , 2021
The Israeli government is poised to pass the annual extension of a law barring Palestinian Authority residents from seeking Israeli citizenship, despite opposition from the Likud and the Religious Zionist Party.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met Monday night with Ministers Ayelet Shaked and Ze’ev Elkin and with United Arab List (Ra’am) chairman MK Mansour Abbas in an attempt to reach a compromise that will allow the approval of the extension of the Family Reunification Law.
During the meeting, Abbas agreed that the UAL will not vote against the law’s extension, enabling it to narrowly pass in the Knesset, Kan reported Tuesday morning.
In exchange, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked agreed to make a public statement committing the government to improving the ‘humanitarian conditions’ in Israel’s Arab sector.
The law was first passed as a temporary measure during the Second Intifada, barring residents of the Palestinian Authority from receiving Israeli citizenship via marriage to Israeli citizens. The law has been extended every year, and has typically received support across the aisle.
This week, however, passage of the bill appeared uncertain, as several left-wing lawmakers and the United Arab List (Ra’am) – all members of the coalition – vowed to vote against the law’s extension.
At the same time, the Likud and other Opposition parties also announced their plans to vote against the law’s extension, despite the bill having been supported by the Likud earlier this month, prior to the formation of the new government.
Opposition MK Simcha Rotman (Religious Zionist Party) submitted an alternate bill which would permanently ban family reunifications for Palestinian Authority residents.
More power to Abbas? Really?
What I am hearing they could pass the extension of the law but currently it would require votes from the Religious Zionist party. Bennett is trying to work things out so that votes from the coalition alone will be enough to pass the law before relying on votes from opposition parties at least for now.
This is the reason for the delay.
This is very distressing. It shows a huge lack of the Gov’t’s ability to pass legislation that affects the security of the Nation. This wasn’t even a new bill, just a renewal of an old one. It simultaneously shows a complete lack of willingness of the opposition to comply to the security needs of the nation. The political significance of this is really secondary to the fact the State has a gov’t that will not be able to pass security measures necessary to the state. In addition to the Raam drama today, I read yesterday that one Meretz member would not support it – who knows if the others were not of a similar mind as Raam. This is even more concerning.
And the political ramifications could affect the support for the entire Right wing as a whole should it result in a return of suicide bombing or other security breaches that it was adopted to prevent. The Right failed Israel today, in a manner that is completely disconnected from reality. And the most disturbing point of this is that it will likely be repeated in the future. There is a great defect in this Knesset, and should such a cognitive dysfunctional body not be either corrected, or replaced with a more functional group of MKs, it could end in creating quite a disaster.
I posted a reply to your reference to the film Galaxy, Sebastien, but for some reason it didn’t make it onto the screen.
I had no connection whatsoever with the film “Galaxy.” I have never even seen it. I don’t work in the movie industry.
If what you meant is, did Abbas lie to Bennett and Shaked? That is certainly possible.
Sebastien, I think I interpreted your question too literally. Did you mean that I thought Abbas lied to Bennett and Shaked? That is possible. Or maybe he genuinely changed his mind after initially saying he would support the law if Ra’am and the Arabs got something in return, but then was persuaded by one of his MPs to change his mind. In any case, the Family Reunification Law won’t be renewed for this year.
Sebastien–I had nothing whatever to do with this video or the movie from which it was taken. I did not even know this film existed until I used the link you provided to watch it on Youtube. I still have no idea what the over-all story line is. I don’t work for any movie company and am not connected in any way with Hollywood. What made you think I was? This is a sincere question–I really wish to know.
Thanks for the update from TOI, Sebastien. It looks like the Family Reunification law will not be passed this year. It has been “removed from the agenda” by Bennett. Several Ra’am MPs told Bennett that they were willing to support the Family Reunification renewal provided that the right-wing parties could agree to an end to Arab home demolitions (In Judea-Samaria?)
But one Ra’am MP announced he would under no circumstances vote for the bill, and the other three Ra’am MPs decided they would also vote against the law to avoid an internal split. At least that’s the “official” story.
The upshot is that Arabs who were granted residence permits in Israel under the FR law will now also be eligable for Israeli citizenship and full voting rights.
@Adamdalgliesh You mean he LIED?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VGajDTNKFU
The Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post have not reported this story. This makes me doubt its accuracy. Perhaps Eyelet Shaked, now the Minister of the Interior, is the source of this story for Arutz Sheva. She has always been a favorite with Arutz Sheva. But its possible that Abbas led her to believe she had a deal, but actually has no intention of supporting the Family Reunion law if the Bennett government resubmits it.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/raam-mk-says-party-will-vote-against-the-palestinian-family-reunification-law/
If this works, it will be quite a relief that the gov’t would be capable of renewing a bill that maintains a Zionist-led status quo measure that is about as benign a topic as any security measure is likely to produce. It was necessary that this measure was passed by Bennett without the opposition, and it is well that he was able to complete such an obvious need to continue the security that this law provides. It’s a statement of either Bennett’s persuasive skills or the value that Abbas places upon his soon to be won political boons that he has supported this Zionist measure, even as the Zionist opposition opposed it. Either way it is a victory for the Unity(less the Heredi parties) gov’t and a shame upon the Opposition.
There is something to be noted that this status quo measure took so much persuasion for such a very basic measure of negotiation and that it only afforded the continuation of a previously recognized measure of civil defense. Much could be gained should the Right realize they have more in common with their disparate members on either side of this political divide and that they have the seats to fulfill a Right wing agenda that the public supported so soundly in its election results. Til this point is embraced over the war of egos, a muted Right wing agenda with domestic reforms will seem to be the best this gov’t is likely to achieve. In this I hope I am incorrect, but time will tell.
If this come about and pass it will be a good indicator of the potential viability of the coalition. Let us wait until the three votes to pass it before we stand up and clap however.