F.M. Lieberman’s ‘Loyalty’ Bill Clears First Hurdle in Knesset
The Knesset on Wednesday passed the first reading of a ‘citizenship loyalty’ bill proposed by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu party.
The bill, proposed by David Rotem MK, calls on Israel to revoke citizenship or permanent status from any person convicted of terrorist activity or of espionage on behalf of a terrorist organization.
Twenty MKs voted in favor of the bill, 10 against. It will now be amended by Knesset committees before a final parliamentary vote to become law.
The bill, which was proposed a few weeks ago, struck resonance with a ministerial committee that on Sunday approved the bill, following the arrest this month of Israeli Arab Ameer Makhoul on suspicion of spying for Hezbollah.
Ministers had already rejected two similar bills proposed by Yisrael Beitenu. One called on the government to strip prisoners convicted of terrorism of the right to vote; the other demanded preferential treatment to military and national servants for employment and education.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO