Opposition MK Moshe Arbel (Shas) reached out to Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit on Tuesday, asking him in a letter to look into alleged fraud and breach of trust commited by the coalition in the Knesset plenum in an attempt to get a citizenship law passed that would replace a temporary order regulating the status and residency of Palestinian spouses of Arab Israelis.
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In a defeat for the new government, the law was voted down in the Knesset early Tuesday morning following a tie of 59:59.
"The discussion of the bill in the plenum last night raised a serious picture in which the government appeared to be knowingly lying and misdirecting MKs in order to promote its goals of security a majority for the vote, to the extent of [alleged] fraud and breach of trust," Arbel wrote.
"During the discussion, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked was asked a number of times whether there was a written or verbal agreement between coalition factions for MKs from Ra'am and Meretz to support the vote or abstain in exchange for the interior minister 'upgrading' the status of Palestinian residents of Israel who are married to Israeli citizens.
"Minister Shaked responded that the 'former interior minister … issued 1,600 people permits for family reunification. We have remained at a similar number of permits that will be examined by a humanitarian committee… which will convene and discuss the 1,600 cases.' Given these remarks, it can be assumed that MKs considered their stances and voted accordingly in the plenum," Arbel wrote.
However, the Shas MK told Mendelblit, "In a radio interview today [Tuesday] Regional Cooperation Minister Esawi Frej [Meretz] said that 'the agreement reached with [Prime Minister] Bennett and Shaked gave over 3,000 Palestinian families legal standing in Israel. We didn't want to make that public because of the Right. We missed a one-time opportunity to do justice to thousands of our people's families.'"
Arbel alleged that Frej had admitted that Shaked had "lied to MKs in the plenum" in order to promote the interests of the government and the Yamina party, and concluded by asking Mendelblit to launch an investigation into the matter.
Yamina was considering the possibility of bringing the bill to the plenum for another vote, but it was not certain when that might happen.
Minutes before the vote, the cabinet announced that the vote on the bill would in effect be a vote of confidence in the new government and that if the bill fell, so would the Center-Left government.
At 2:40 a.m., Shaked presented a compromise agreement, according to which the temporary order, which thus far has been renewed on an annual basis, would be extended for six months, until January 2022.
The Opposition rejected Shaked's compromise, arguing that any alterations to the original temporary order needed to be presented two months ahead of the Knesset vote. This led to an uproar, and the Opposition ultimately appealed to the Knesset legal counsel for an opinion.
MK Ahmad Tibi asked Arab MKs, "How is it possible that the 'Palestinian rib' of the government will vote for the most anti-Palestinian law possible?"
MK Kati Shitrit (Likud) attacked both Tibi and Intelligence Minister Elazar Stern, calling them "Ra'am's dishrags." MK Orit Strock was removed from the plenum for heckling.
While Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy (Yesh Atid) was speaking, a number of Opposition MKs began calling out "Shame!"
Shaked pointed out that understandings secured by the coalition, not in any written agreement, would grant immediate approval for 1,600 requests for family reunification for Palestinian spouses of Arab Israeli citizens.
Earlier, Shaked and Ra'am leader MK Mansour Abbas discussed the matter of the citizenship law. Abbas also met with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid in an attempt to reach a compromise.
Hours before the Knesset vote, MK Israel Katz tweeted: "While the Likud faction is weighing its vote on the matter of the citizenship bill, we were informed that the government has promised Ra'am it will gloss over the entry of another 1,800 Palestinian families. My position is to vote against the bill and the anti-Zionist deal between Shaked and Abbas. However, we will promote a Basic Law about entry to Israel that will completely prevent any Palestinian 'right of return.'"
Speaking in the Knesset plenum, Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu attacked Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Shaked.
"Bennett and Shaked say they have formed a 'Zionist government,' but they aren't capable of passing such a simple law because they're dependent on anti-Zionist entities that oppose Israel being a Jewish, democratic state," Netanyahu said.
"The responsible, correct thing to do is to pass a Basic Law on immigration, today, in a preliminary vote, and postpone extending the temporary order by two months, which will lead to a solution to the issue," Netanyahu continued.
On Monday, the Shin Bet security agency warned that the government's failure to pass the citizenship law was hurting national security.
In a meeting of the Opposition bloc on Monday, a decision was taken for every Opposition faction to review the citizenship law, after which the Opposition would re-convene to decide how to vote.
Netanyahu reached out to Bennett and Lapid, telling them, "Don't expect us to save you from anti-Zionist entities," referring to factions in the coalition that oppose the law.
"Bennett wants us to come along but feel like we aren't there," Netanyahu said. "To be prime minister with six mandates, Bennett made a hash of things. He gave things to Meretz, to Ra'am, to Lapid, to the Labor Party, and for whom was nothing left? The Right."
Earlier Monday, Bennett discussed the controversy over the law, saying, "The Opposition is trying we wear us down through childish games. But there are things you don't toy with. National security is a red line. The government needs control over who enters its borders and who receives citizenship. Bringing in thousands of Palestinians, granting them citizenship, and hurting national security for the sake of scoring political points – that's simply not the right thing to do," he said.
Shaked asked members of the Opposition not to torpedo the bill.
"This law was originally passed for security reasons. They saw that over time, most of the terrorist attacks perpetrated by Arab Israelis were committed by people who came into the country under 'family reunification,' or by their children," Shaked said.
"You must understand that if the law is shot down today, despite what some Opposition leaders are choosing to lie to you about, over time, not even the interior minister will be able to stop a process of ongoing naturalization [of Palestinians], which is why the law is so important," Shaked added.
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