The government's recent failure to extend the provisions of the citizenship law regarding family reunification exposed much of the political and social conflict Ra'am legislators face.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
Clearly, they cannot automatically align themselves with the government on all issues, so there is no wonder that they were spilt on this controversial vote – two voting in favor and two abstaining. This was enough to make sure the law didn't pass without placing the fragile Center-Left coalition at risk.
Still, scathing online criticism on Arab social media was quick to follow.
Ra'am leader Mansour Abbas, a pragmatist, would like to show his loyalty to the coalition. The vote allows him to go to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and say he kept his promise to vote in favor of the bill, and demand Bennett follow through on the various promises he made to ensure the Islamist party joins the government. .
This complicated situation cannot last forever, especially due to how brittle the coalition is given its inherent conflicts. With almost every legislative amendment potentially heralding the tangible downfall of the government, Abbas has a unique position of power.
The coalition will have to repeatedly "pay him back," one way or another, for having the deciding vote.
Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked tried over the past week to downplay the issue of citizenship, saying there would be only about 15,000 Palestinians who would receive Israeli citizenship and trying to pressure MKs from the Likud, but she failed.
The Joint Arab List, which naturally voted against the bill, can now tout its downfall as a political victory won from the benches of the opposition, setting them apart from Ra'am, which they claim "betrayed" their constituents.
In doing this, however, the Joint Arab List is giving its voters the false impression at very soon, perhaps on orders from the High Court of Justice, family reunification will take place and everyone will be granted Israeli citizenship.
One of the mistakes perpetuated by all Israeli governments is that they see the citizenship bill as security-related legislation, despite knowing it goes against basic human and civil rights, by targeting a specific population and infringing on one's right to marry whomever they wish.
The government's failure to pass the law may lead it to rethink one of the most difficult issues it faces. Somehow, a seemingly negligible amendment has essentially become a major security and demographic issue, one in which even the Israel Security Agency has a say in it, and one debated by the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
The law is nothing but the symptom of a more complex and challenging problem – Israel's relations with its Arab citizens and the status of the Arabs in the Jewish state.
On the one hand, Arab Israelis have full civil rights but on the other hand, they cannot exercise a personal and private right and choose who he wants to live their lives with. The proof of the conflict is the fact that Abbas, an Islamic MK, voted in favor of extending the provisions of the law, while right-wing MK Amichai Chikli voted against it.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
