Bill: Want citizenship? Pledge allegiance

Yisrael Beiteinu MK proposes bill stating people seeking Israeli citizenship must pledge loyalty to Israel, commit to IDF service or National Service; another clause of bill calls to grant interior minister authority to revoke citizenship of a person who shirked IDF service. MK Tibi: We have had enough of this populist, racist trend
Amnon Meranda

A new bill submitted by Knesset Member David Rotem (Yisrael Beiteinu) on Monday calls for stipulating eligibility for a citizenship on a declaration of loyalty to the State of Israel.

According to the bill, those who apply for Israeli citizenship will have to pledge allegiance in the following form: "I hereby pledge my loyalty to the State of Israel as a Jewish, Zionist and democratic state, its symbols and values, and serve the country, as shall be required of me, in the IDF."

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Furthermore, the bill states that minors will have to pledge loyalty before receiving an ID.

Another clause grants the interior minister the right to revoke the citizenship of a person who did not comply with the duty to serve in the military or in National Service.

In the addendum to the bill, MK Rotem wrote: "The connection between citizenship and loyalty is unbreakable. During the last several years it became clear that Israeli citizens are not always loyal to the State, its symbols and values, and evade the duty of army or national service."

MK Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al) told Ynet in response that "this is another populist bills of extreme-rightist MKs whose goal is to tie the basic right for citizenship with a nonconsensual ideological statement.

"I won't be surprised when the day comes that factories will be obligated to put the flag of Israel and the slogan 'Jewish, democratic state' on canned food, yogurt containers, and traditional Arab olive-press. We have had enough of this populist, racist trend."