Conditional citizenship (Tom Segev)

One day, MK Gilad Erdan (Likud) came up with an idea for how to punish Arab Knesset members who travel to Beirut and Damascus: declaring that they have "broken faith" with the state and stripping them of their citizenship. The initiative added a patriotic headline to Erdan's collection of press clippings.

Living from headline to headline is obviously not unique to him: That is also the lifestyle of, among others, the Arab MKs who make anti-Zionist declarations in Damascus and Beirut. But some gimmicks are dangerous: Before anyone realizes it, they develop a life of their own and threaten to become reality. That is what happened with Erdan's silly idea: The Ministerial Committee on Legislation adopted it this week.

Currently, the interior minister is authorized to remove someone's citizenship if, inter alia, he "broke faith" with the state. Let it be said to Ophir Pines-Paz's credit that during his tenure as interior minister, he proposed abolishing this ministerial authority. But instead of eliminating it entirely, the ministerial committee is now proposing to transfer it to the courts.

"Breach of faith" will presumably not include, for example, a decision to send the nation into an unnecessary and failed war, or expanding the corrosive occupation of the territories, or governmental corruption in general. Rather, this bill belongs among the plethora of initiatives aimed at effecting a "transfer" of Arabs.

The idea of overt transfer, fruit of the nationalist thought of David Ben-Gurion and the religious racism of Meir Kahane and others, has in recent years given way to pseudo-legitimate initiatives such as Avigdor Lieberman's proposal to draw new borders that would leave many Arab Israelis outside the country. Similarly, there are currently people writing learned working papers that ostensibly deal with ways to change the system of government. But in practice, more than a few of these proposals are aimed at crushing Arab Israelis' electoral strength and their Knesset representatives.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/811620.html

United Arab List-Ta'al leader emails suggested amendment to Knesset member immunity law in protest of supposed anti-Arab bills, initiatives; ‘Arab MK won't breathe, won't move, won't stand, and won't sit without permission of authorized officials," he says sarcastically

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3350927,00.html

<snip>

"United Arab List-Ta'al leader MK Ahmad Tibi distributed a document using the Knesset's internal email service Wednesday suggesting an amendment to the Knesset member immunity law, which he claimed worsened the position of Arab representatives in the Knesset.

Tibi took a sarcastic approach to what he called racism in the Knesset.

"Immunity of Knesset members will not apply to Arab MK's even within the Knesset," Tibi wrote, "An Arab MK who wishes to go from his office to plenum hall may only do so with the permission of the Knesset's security officer or someone on his behalf."

"An Arab MK who wishes to go from his office to a public bathroom in the Knesset may only do so after gaining permission from the Knesset Speaker and after consultation with authorized officials," Tibi continued.

"An Arab MK won't breathe, won't move, won't stand, and won't sit without the permission of the interior minister and authorized officials," he said."

<snip>

"Tibi explained that he distributed his suggestion because "several initiatives have been raised recently to narrow the steps of Arab citizens, including Arab MK's".

Tibi was referring to a bill preventing family reunification with Palestinian partners, as well as a bill by MK Gilad Erdan (Likud) which passed Wednesday in an initial call to revoke the citizenship of any citizen who travels to Syria or Lebanon."