Israel’s War Against Palestine: Documenting the Military Occupation of Palestinian and Arab Lands

Will MKs be required to swear loyalty to a Jewish state?

2 January 2010

By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz – 2 Jan 2010
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1139374.html

The Knesset ministerial legislative committee was set to vote Sunday on a bill requiring MKs to take a “loyalty oath” to the Jewish state before taking office.

The bill, proposed by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu Party, suggests changing the wording of the current oath taken by MKs so that instead of swearing loyalty to “the State of Israel and its laws,” MKs will be required to vow loyalty to the State of Israel as a “Jewish democratic state.”

The bill was submitted by MK David Rotem, who is currently serving as the chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee. He cited participation by Israeli Arab MKs in a pro-Palestinian protest at the Gaza border as the motivation for the bill.

The bill aims to require Israeli Arab MKs, who are not Jewish, to pledge loyalty to the Jewish character of the State of Israel, which by definition marginalizes them as non-Jews.

“Anyone who saw and heard recently remarks made be MKs [Taleb] A-Sana and [Jamal] Zehalka,” he said, “who vilified the defense minister and allowed the biggest enemy of the State of Israel to speak to the public via a mobile phone owned by the Knesset and the state, understands intuitively that there is a need to bring MKs to be loyal to the state.”

Rotem was referring to a rally, held Thursday, during which Israeli Arabs gathered at the Israeli side of the border with Gaza and heard a speech delivered by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh through A-Sana’s mobile phone. During the demonstration, Zehalka said that Defense Minister Ehud Barak “enjoys classical music and killing children in Gaza.”

“The bill, on the Knesset’s agenda,” Rotem continued, “seeks to ensure that MKs are loyal to Israel as a Jewish state. Anyone who doesn’t want to be loyal will kindly refrain from being an MK.”

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