On June 13, 2016, the Knesset approved the
government’s request to extend the validity of the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law, enacted in 2003 as a provisional “temporary order”. The Law was prolonged until June 30, 2017, by a majority of 65 Knesset members, with 14 against and two abstaining.
This time round, unlike in former years, the request to prolong the Law was reviewed by a joint committee of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and the Internal Affairs Committee before it was voted upon by the Knesset plenum. The joint committee was authorized to recommend to the Knesset whether to reject the validity extension or approve it for either the period requested or a modified period.
On May 30, 2016, HaMoked sent a
letter to the committee members, reiterating its position that the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law was unconstitutional and must be voided. HaMoked went on to say that as it appeared that the legislator was not about to cancel the Law at present, as a matter of choosing the lesser evil, the committee members should at least require that the Law be revised before its prolongation insofar as it applied to minors and people in difficult humanitarian situations.
At the end of the hearing held on June 1, 2016, the majority of the joint committee recommended extending the validity of the Law in its current form. However, it was also
decided that in the next six months the committee would hold discussions “to examine the Law’s impact on certain population groups, and propose future amendments to it”.
