Israel’s ban on Palestinian spouses becomes permanent law – a triumph for ‘Jewish state’
Protest outside the Israeli parliament against the citizenship law on 29 June 2022
Jonathan Ofir writes in Mondoweiss:
Yesterday [10 March 2022], Israel’s parliament passed a law denying naturalization to Palestinians from the occupied West Bank or Gaza married to Israeli citizens, forcing thousands of Palestinian families to either emigrate or live apart, as Reuters reported.
The permanent law barring nationalization passed by 45-15, a three-quarters voting majority, which cut across coalition lines (only half the full parliament voted on the legislation). Two parties that are in the governing coalition voted against the law: the left-Zionist Meretz party and the rightwing Islamist party Ra’am. The rest of the governing coalition, including Labor, voted for the racist law, joining forces with the most far-right politicians in Israel’s parliament.
Lawmaker Simcha Rothman from the rightwing Religious Zionism party, who helped get the Kahanist party Jewish Power into the parliament (with Itamar Ben Gvir, the admirer of Jewish terrorist Baruch Goldstein, as a member of the Knesset), was a main pioneer of this one. Rothman was exultant already ahead of yesterday’s vote, when it was clear it would be passed: ‘The State of Israel is Jewish and so it will remain… Today, God willing, Israel’s defensive shield will be significantly strengthened’.
The other main pioneer of this legislation is a leading member of the government, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, from Naftali Bennett’s Yamina (Rightwards) party. She was very clear about her success, as she told the plenum yesterday: ‘Simcha Rothman immediately understood the damage done by the law’s expiring and worked with me to draft a version acceptable to both sides. Demonstrating great responsibility, the opposition helped pass the law.’
…. …. ….
This law is hardly new. What is new is that it is cemented in permanent law. It has a history as a temporary, emergency order, which had to be renewed each year. And it is an apartheid law. Human Rights Watch, in their 213-page report on Israeli Apartheid and Persecution of last year, dedicated a section to this issue:
See also in +972: A racist Israeli law just got even more racist