Loyalty bill for Israel?

JERUSALEM – An ultranationalist party headed by the Israeli foreign minister said yesterday it has prepared legislation linking citizenship to an oath of allegiance, in what amounted to a threat to the country’s Arabs to swear loyalty to the Jewish state or risk severe punishment.

The bill follows a separate proposal on Sunday by the same party that would make it illegal for Arabs to mourn the ‘catastrophe’ – the term Palestinians use to describe their defeat and exile in the war that surrounded Israel’s founding.
Both proposals by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu party focus on the perceived disloyalty of the country’s Arab citizens, roughly one-fifth of Israel’s population of 7 million.
The loyalty oath was one of the central planks in Lieberman’s campaign for parliamentary elections in February. His prominent role in Israel’s new government has given it a clear hard-line tilt and fueled international concerns about Israel’s willingness to pursue peace with the Palestinians.
The legislation, which must still pass several hurdles to win final approval, drew harsh criticism from opposition legislators and civil rights groups.
Mohammed Darawshe of the Abraham Fund Initiatives, which works for coexistence between Jews and Arabs in Israel, said the bills reflect ‘an ideology imported from dark regimes that have collapsed.’
Yisrael Beitenu swept to third place in the February elections with a message that suggested Israel’s Arabs were an internal threat to the country.
The bill would also allow the government to revoke the citizenship of anyone who does not comply or perform some form of military or national service.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has yet to express a position on the matter.