Knesset to hold special session on Nation-State bill
The special session was requested by the Zionist Union, which obtained 52 signatures from opposition factions, more than twice as many as is required to initiate a special session during the recess.
By GIL HOFFMANUpdated: JULY 31, 2018 03:05The Knesset building(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
The Knesset will convene in a special session during its summer recess on August 8 in order to deliberate on the controversial Jewish Nation-State Law and its impact on the Druze community, the Knesset’s spokesman announced on Monday.The special session was requested by the Zionist Union party, which obtained 52 signatures from opposition factions, more than twice as many as is required to initiate a special session during the recess. But no voting is permitted during the recess.The committee formed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the Druze sector’s problems with the law convened for the first time on Monday.Druze representatives told the head of the committee, acting Prime Minister’s Office director-general Yoav Horowitz, that they would continue to remain loyal to the state and serve in the IDF but they want the law amended when the Knesset recess ends on October 14.Incoming opposition leader Tzipi Livni, who will officially receive the post when the Knesset convenes, released a video response on Monday to Netanyahu’s Sunday attack on the Left regarding the Nation-State Law.Netanyahu said at the start of Sunday’s cabinet meeting that the Left’s attacks and criticism of the Nation-State Law are “absurd” and reflects the “depths” to which the Left has fallen.Addressing Netanyahu, Livni noted that ahead of the election he claimed that Arabs were going to “vote in droves,” and now he is continuing to make statements and enact policies that are problematic.