JERUSALEM (WJC) — Following protests in Israel and abroad, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he wants to include Jews in a bill that would require new Israeli citizens to swear loyalty to the country as a “Jewish and democratic state” when taking citizenship.
Netanyahu gave instructions to the justice minister to extend the controversial bill to Jews, his office said. Previous plans for the oath only included non-Jewish prospective citizens. The bill has angered Israel’s Arab minority and members of the Labor party, which is part of Netanyahu’s governing coalition. To become law, the bill to amend the Citizenship Law – which already includes a pledge of uphold the laws of the State of Israel – needs to be adopted by Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. The Cabinet had backed the amendment in its current version by majority vote last week.
However, Netanyahu said on Monday that he had instructed Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman to prepare a draft bill that would also require Jews to swear the oath. Israeli media reported last week that all five ministers from the Labor party had voted against the proposal, as did three Cabinet members of Netanyahu’s own Likud. The bill has been advocated by mainly by the Yisrael Beiteinu party of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
Recognition of Israel as a Jewish state is one of Israel’s key demands in any eventual peace deal with the Palestinians. The Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) agreed to recognize Israel as a state, but have so far rejected the demand to recognize its Jewish character.
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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress