The Israeli Knesset, Israel's cabinet, has approved a controversial loyalty oath for non-Jewish citizens. The loyalty oath requires new non-Jewish citizens to swear an oath of allegiance to Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state" before becoming a citizen (Sherwood).
The loyalty oath has brought forth accusations of racism from Arab politicians who see the oath as undermining the rights of the country's Arab minority (Sherwood). Critics believe the oath invites discrimination towards non-Jews (McGregor-Wood). .
The oath is expected to be passed into law in the next few months and will affect several thousand people a year (McGregor-Wood). It will mainly affect Palestinians from the West Bank who marry Palestinian citizens of Israel. Palestinian citizens make up 20% of Israel's population. They have criticized the proposal for being racist (Sherwood). .
Avigdor Lieberman, a right-wing foreign minister, originally promoted the bill. Lieberman has made the issue of loyalty a staple in his political career. He originally campaigned for all existing Palestinian citizens of Israel to take the oath, although it has since been decided that the oath will only be required of future citizens. "I think this is an important step forward. Obviously this is not the end of the issue of loyalty in return for citizenship, but this is a highly important step," Lieberman said (Sherwood). .
Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, backed the bill. "The state of Israel is the national state of the Jewish people and is a democratic state in which all its citizens - Jewish and non-Jewish - enjoy full equal rights . Whoever wants to join us, has to recognise us," he said (Sherwood). .
However, the oath has also received backlash, even from Cabinet members themselves. Ahmed Tibi, an Israeli-Arab member of the Knesset, said, "The government of Israel has become subservient to Yisrael Beiteinu [Lieberman's party] and its fascist doctrine.
