The Knesset plenum today (Wednesday) rejected, by an overwhelming majority, the "Who is a Jew" bill led by MK Avi Maoz, which was intended to determine that registration as a Jew in the population registry would be done solely on the basis of conversion recognized by the rabbinical courts.
In the plenary vote, 60 Knesset members voted against the proposal, compared to 15 who supported it - including members of the United Torah Judaism and Shas, and it failed in the preliminary reading.
Just about a month ago, during the celebrations of the 19th of Kislev in Kfar Chabad, Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir publicly addressed the coalition chairman, MK Ofir Katz, and said: "We need to pass the law on who is a Jew.".
However, the result in the plenary session shows that despite the strong statements in Kfar Chabad, the Otzma Yehudit faction did not stand behind the move.
Despite a personal and direct appeal by the head of the Chabad Rabbinical Court, Rabbi Yitzhak Yehuda Yaroslavsky, to Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, calling on them to support the bill, the two chose, along with their faction members, to disappear and defeat the bill.
The initiator of the law, MK Avi Maoz, said after the vote that this was a "historical miss" and emphasized that the struggle for the Jewish identity of the State of Israel will continue both in the public and parliamentary arenas. "Today it became clear who is willing to stand behind their statements about the Jewishness of the state and who chooses to run away at the moment of truth.".
The Knesset plenum rejected today (Wednesday) in a preliminary reading the "Who is a Jew" bill by MK Avi Maoz. The bill sought to determine that only conversions recognized by rabbinical courts would be valid for the purpose of registering as Jews in the population registry – a step intended to cancel the recognition of Reform and Conservative conversions. Despite the importance of the law for the right-wing and ultra-Orthodox factions, it fell by a majority of 60 to 15.
Today's vote put the spotlight on the statements of the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir. Just about a month ago, during the 19th of Kislev celebrations in Kfar Chabad, the minister publicly addressed the coalition chairman and said: "We need to pass the law on who is a Jew." The result in the plenary shows that despite the strong statements in Kfar Chabad, Otzma Yehudit did not stand behind the move.
In the run-up to the vote, threats were made by the Haredi factions to violate coalition discipline and vote in favor of the law even without the government's consent. MK Maoz, for his part, demanded that the coalition support the law as part of strengthening the country's Jewish identity, or at the very least allow Knesset members freedom of vote.
Ultimately, the question that remained open regarding the position of the Likud, Religious Zionism, and Otzma Yehudit parties was decided by the results: the law did not receive the required majority and was defeated overwhelmingly.
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