Knesset Moves to Block Palestinian Family Reunification

The Knesset passed a controversial citizenship law to replace a temporary order regulating the status and residency of Palestinian spouses of Arab Israelis in a tense session Thursday night.

The legislation, which prevents Palestinians from acquiring Israeli citizenship through family reunification, has been a contentious issue for coalition members. Both the Meretz and Ra’am parties oppose the law, which garnered the support of 45 MKs. Fifteen MKs voted against the bill in the third and final Knesset reading.

Commenting on the passage of the law, Shaked, who introduced the law, said, “As I promised, the citizenship law was passed this evening at the Knesset …. . This is a Zionist, nationalist security law of the highest order, which could not be neglected purely for petty politics. The combination of coalition and opposition forces led to an important result for state security and the fortification [of Israel] as a Jewish state. I thank all the Knesset members who acted responsibly and voted in favor of the law.”

The Meretz party, which belongs to the coalition, voiced significant opposition to the bill in an effort to prevent a vote. A majority of these complaints were rejected.

The leader of the Islamist Ra’am party Mansour Abbas said in a statement, “When Ra’am wants to decide whether to topple the government of buy time and try to invest further effort and change policies, to bring about decisions and laws and a new policy for the benefit of Arab society, we will decide based on a general consideration beyond one point. There is no doubt this law is one that deserves to topple governments.”

In a statement, the Religious Zionism Party said, “Following the criticism voiced against the right-wing parties for throwing out the law half a year ago, this evening, it was made clear that the right-wing parties made the right and Zionist decision that prevented a law that would have exacerbated the situation and succeeded in passing a much better law that bolsters the State of Israel’s Zionist and Jewish identity.”

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Ram Ben Barak (Yesh Atid) admitted: “I am not at ease with the law and its passage, but we face a complex security reality in a complicated region, and with such a reality, we must live and sometimes make unpleasant decisions as is happening now.”