Israeli legal experts joined many of the country’s artists, writers, politicians and trade unionists in criticising Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s demand that anyone seeking citizenship must swear allegiance to Israel as an exclusively Jewish state.
The “loyalty oath” has been demanded by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s mainly Russian immigrant Yisrael Beitenu party, Nettanyahu’s coalition partner, which wants it extended not just to citizenship candidates but also to Israel’s own Palestinian population.
Hebrew University Professor Mordechai Kremnitzer told the Jerusalem Post that most laws are meant to solve problems but “this law is unique in the sense that it creates problems.”
He told the newspaper that Avigdor Lieberman’s real target was not new citizens but Israeli Arabs. ”The idea is to tell us all: ‘Look, these citizens are not really loyal to Israel, because if they were forced to make a pledge, they would refuse.’ The bill is meant to cast a shadow on the loyalty of the Israeli Arabs.”
Tel Aviv University’s Haim Gans told the paper the government was humiliating the Israeli Arab community by forcing new citizens to make the new pledge. “When we humiliate the Arabs, as we do by this legislation, we make them second-class citizens”, he continued.
