Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s coalition faced intense infighting on Monday over proposed changes to the contentious Nation-State Law, with the leaders of Yisrael Beytenu, Labor and Blue and White determined to move forward and Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked and Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar intent on stopping them.
Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman made the commitment to change a bill after Sunday’s revelation of the name of Lt.-Col. Mahmoud Kheir al-Din, from the Druze town of Hurfeish in the North.
He was killed by friendly fire during a firefight with Hamas gunmen during a lengthy special operation in the Gaza Strip on November 11, 2018.
A bill presented by Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu Party on Monday would establish Israel’s Declaration of Independence as a Basic Law to ensure equality for Druze and other minority groups, it was submitted in the past by Defense Minister Benny Gantz.
Shaked said Yamina would veto the bill and called on the defense and finance ministers to concentrate on the security and economic challenges facing Israel.
“I recommend that my friends in the coalition stop amusing themselves by thinking they can make changes in Basic Laws that are not agreed upon,” Shaked tweeted. “It won’t happen, as is set in the coalition agreement.”
Liberman responded that he was not bothered by Shaked’s opposition and that his bill had a majority.
Sa’ar took Shaked’s side in the fight, telling his New Hope faction that the law would neither be canceled, nor changed.Labor leader Merav Michaeli called the law “twisted” and said she would do anything possible to change it.
Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid told his Yesh Atid faction that he wants to amend the Nation-State law, but only if all the factions in the coalition agree.
Joint List head Ayman Odeh said he would help pass the bills.
Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu warned that canceling the Nation-State Law would result in a mass influx of millions of Muslim migrants who would tip the demographic balance against the current Jewish majority.
“Those are their true intentions,” Netanyahu said, speaking about the proponents of changing the law.
MK Eli Avidar said he would pass Basic Laws aimed at preventing Netanyahu from running again, despite opposition from Shaked.
“The change bloc has repeatedly fallen victim to the threats of a politician without an electorate, who since the day the coalition was established, has threatened more than her political strength,” Avidar said.