The Knesset's House Committee and Law, Constitution and Justice Committee met July 10 for a joint session about the nationality bill promoted by the ruling coalition. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hopes to present the bill for a Knesset plenum vote in the coming days, before the Knesset ends its summer session on July 22.
In an unusual move, President Reuven Rivlin berated the Knesset members debating the government’s controversial law proposal. “In the name of the Zionist vision, are we willing to lend a hand to the discrimination and exclusion of a man or a woman on the basis of his or her origin?” Rivlin wrote. The president referred to Article 7(b) of the proposed bill, which states, “The state may allow the community, including members of one religion or of one nationality, to maintain separate communal settlement.” According to Rivlin, this language allows any community, without limitations, to exclude all ultra-Orthodox Jews, for example, or Israelis originating from Arab states, or Israeli Druze or members of the LGBT community. The country’s top civilian reminded the lawmakers of their ultimate responsibility for preserving the delicate balance between the Jewish and democratic underpinnings of the state.
