Meretz threatens crisis if Ayelet Shaked introduces 'Citizenship Law''

December 19, 2021   

Meretz is threatening a crisis if Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked brings the citizenship law back up for a vote in the Knesset. This was reported this morning (Sunday) on the This Morning program on the B network. Shaked has recently been negotiating with MK Simcha Rotman about the opposition's support for the citizenship law, which fell through about six months ago. According to the report, behind the scenes, Meretz members conveyed a strong message to the coalition leaders, making it clear that they would not agree to Shaked bringing the citizenship law back up for a vote in the Knesset, as long as she does not fulfill the promises she made for their support in the previous vote on the citizenship law. The promises included an outline for the number of citizenship and status approvals for families of Palestinians and Israeli Arabs, as well as the establishment of a committee to examine the issue in depth. Senior Meretz officials announced: "As long as this is not fulfilled, Shaked can forget about a new citizenship law." In light of the threat, the party leaders are also expected to discuss the issue soon. In July, the law banning family reunification was voted down in the Knesset, and a few hours later, Minister Shaked announced that she would try to re-approve the law within a few weeks and bring it up for another vote in the Knesset. A month later, Shaked stated in closed-door talks that she did not intend to reintroduce the law until the opposition declared its support for it. Yesterday, Muhammad Majdala reported on Channel 12 that the BARAM had declared a boycott of the Interior Minister: "We have no trust in Ayelet Shaked and will not agree to work with her anymore." According to the report, they will demand that Naftali Bennett appoint another figure from the coalition with authority in matters of the Interior Ministry to work with them, as a condition for preserving the coalition. The BARAM are effectively calling for the Interior Minister's authority to be forfeited in all matters related to discussions on the Electricity Law, or they will seek to dissolve the Knesset and immediately go to elections.