June 2, 2009

Earlier this week the Israeli Ministerial Committee for Legislation rejected a bill proposed by Avigdor Lieberman’s Israel Beitenu party, which would permit the government to strip the citizenship of anyone not swearing allegiance to Israel as a Jewish State.

However, last week the same Committee approved the Nakba Law, which would make marking the Nakba (the Arabic word for the tragedy of the War of Independence for the Palestinian people) a criminal offence. The proposed law will receive its first reading in the Knesset tomorrow.  Many social change organizations from the NIF family will stage a demonstration outside of the Knesset prior to the vote.

NIF President Prof. Naomi Chazan

NIF President Prof. Naomi Chazan was among those who spoke out against the proposed law and her comments were featured widely in the Israeli, Arab and international media. She said, “The attempt to trample on the feelings of pain of Israeli Arabs will result in increased tensions, destroy the fabric of joint living and damage Israel's international image. This is an extreme restriction of freedom of expression.”

See Prof. Chazan's comments at the following links:
ttp://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1088712.html
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/17356/ (Reuters)