Meretz, Ra’am Warn Of ‘Painful’ Ramifications If Citizenship Law Preventing Palestinians From Citizenship Passes

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz issued a veiled warning to the Israeli government Saturday evening, stating that there would be a ‘painful response’ if the Citizenship Law being touted by Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked passes with the help of opposition votes.

The new law being promoted by Shaked would renew a ban on permits for Palestinians who marry Israelis to live with their spouses in Israel. The law was first passed in 2003 and has been renewed every year since, until last July when the bill expired after the coalition failed to win a vote to extend it. Shaked has vowed to bring it back to the Knesset floor, and the Ministerial Committee for Legislation voted last month to promote the bill.

The goal of the law is to prevent de facto Right of Return from occurring when Palestinians marry Arab Israeli spouses in order to obtain citizenship. Numerous cases of spurious marriages designed to attain such citizenship led to the initial enactment of the law. However extreme left-wing and Arab elements view the law as racist and discriminatory.

“It’s a racist law, a law that discriminates against Israel’s Arab citizens, a law that has no place in a democracy. We’ve said we can not support this law,” Horowitz told Channel 12.

“Now Ayelet Shaked and certain others in the coalition want to do something unacceptable — to break the basic understanding upon which this government was formed and to pass this despicable law with votes from the opposition. This is a very dangerous path. It’s a very slippery slope, and of course, our response will be strong and painful,” he added.

“Anyone who goes against the agreements must understand it will come at a price.”

The new law is set to reach the cabinet Sunday. Meretz has tried to delay legislation, filing an appeal to prevent it being submitted without reforms. The government bill is a response to a similar opposition bill by MK Simcha Rothman which is more restrictive but could also pass in the current Knesset, which has a right-wing majority. It is not yet clear which bill will move forward to law.

Shaked said that the objections offered by Meretz to the law would be voted on in the cabinet and would then reach the Knesset, adding that the legislation “has the overwhelming support of more than 100 MKs, and we cannot let politics sabotage it once again.”

While the right-wing parties in the opposition all support the legislation in principle, they voted against it last year in order to embarrass the government and attempt to fracture the diverse coalition.

Shaked ordered her office to continue to implement the ban despite its expiration. But last month, the Supreme Court ordered Shaked to cease enforcing the ban now that the legislation was no longer in effect, saying that Israeli law does “not allow the enforcement of a law that is no longer on the books.”

The ruling has forced Shaked to return once again to attempt to push the legislation through the cabinet and the Knesset. Several Meretz MKs have vowed not to support the bill, as have members of the the Arab Ra’am party.

Around 12,700 Palestinians married to Israelis live in Israel with temporary documentation, and are required to constantly renew their status in the country. For years, most were not permitted to drive or open bank accounts. If their Israeli spouse dies or they divorce, they could be deported — forcing their children to either leave with them for the PA or stay behind without them.

Around 130,000 Palestinians were granted family unification rights during the 1990s, before the ban went into effect. According to the Shin Bet security service, some 155 of those people or their descendants have been involved in terror attacks since 2001.