Ministers to vote on 'Jewish' pledge of allegiance

According to proposal, citizenship applicants to pledge allegiance to 'Jewish, democratic state'

The government is expected to approve Sunday several new regulations pertaining to entry and immigration to Israel, in a bid to counter growing infiltration by illegal aliens entering the country.

 

According to the new regulations, citizenship applicants will no longer pledge their allegiance "to the State of Israel," but rather, will have to add the words "as a Jewish and democratic state."

Breached Egypt border (Photo: AP)

 

The proposal, which spreads over 92 pages, will require any citizenship applicant to endorse the pledge of allegiance at the time of applying for the permit

 

The proposal would also extend the law regulating citizenship and entry into the country, whereby the Gaza Strip is still an area that may pose a security threat for Israel; hence, the interior minister will continue to reject residency permits for anyone listed as a Gaza resident or living there in practice.

 

Humanitarian clause 

In addition, the minister will not provide a residency permit should security officials warn that this may threaten national security or public safety. The proposal would also enable the interior minister to determine which relatives of Arab-Israeli citizens would be entitled to submit a residency request.

 

However, along with the stricter regulations, the ministers will be asked to authorize the interior minister to extend the residency permit of foreign workers "based on exceptional humanitarian grounds."

 

Along with the proposal, ministers will be presented with figures showing that more than 7,000 infiltrators into Israel were nabbed in the first six months of the year. The data does not include infiltrators that have not been caught. In the whole of 2009, only 4,900 such infiltrators were nabbed by authorities. The number of infiltrators in Israel as of June 2010 is estimated at 26,419.