The Israeli cabinet agreed on Sunday to submit a controversial law to the Knesset (parliament) despite opposition from members of the government coalition, Israeli media have reported.
The proposed law was introduced by extreme right-wing Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked who appears to be banking on support for this bill from the opposition, said the Times of Israel.
It’s not a “Palestinian family unification bill.” It’s the opposite. It’s a bill to prevent Palestinian families from living together and is a feature of the barbaric apartheid regime backed by @joebiden, @JustinTrudeau and @EUinIsrael. Background: https://t.co/VFv8mlHiuM https://t.co/XqIC13ppxK
— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) February 7, 2022
According to the Israeli daily, sending the so-called Citizenship Law to the Knesset was approved despite an objection from the Meretz and Ra’am parties. The Israeli parliament is expected to vote on the bill this week.
If passed, the law would renew a ban on permits for Palestinians who marry Israeli Arabs to live with their spouses in Israel.
A similar bill, proposed by opposition Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rotman, passed a vote in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation last month.
Israel's cabinet to send Palestinian family unification bill for Knesset vote
So Yair Lapid wants to convince the world that Israel isn't guilty of the crime of apartheid – and at the same time the government is going to pass this blatantly racist law??https://t.co/HZBvtYpZAL— ג'סיקה – جيسيكا – Jessica 🟣 (@JessicaMontell) February 7, 2022
Meretz party leader Nitzan Horowitz called the decision “a breaking of the consensus rules” that underpin the coalition and warned it would have “future repercussions”.
Horowitz warned on Saturday of a “painful response” if Shaked moves forward with the bill, which he described as “a racist law; a law that discriminates against Israel’s Arab citizens; a law that has no place in a democracy.”
(MEMO, PC, Social Media)
