Activists raise Israel’s Declaration of Independence during Knesset session

Israeli activists were yesterday thrown out of a Knesset session after waving copies of Israel’s Declaration of Independence during a discussion on the controversial “Jewish nation state law”.

The Israeli opposition called for a session to be held after obtaining the signatures of 25 members of the Knesset to convene government during summer recess.

Although Knesset Speaker, Yuli Edelstein, approved the session, Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu refused to attend. Israeli protocol dictates the prime minister must attend sessions if 40 or more MKs sign a letter requesting his presence.

Activists waves copies of Israel’s Declaration of Independence during a Knesset discussion on the ‘Nation State Bill’ on 8 August 2018

Israeli media reported that Netanyahu wanted to attend the meeting, but ministers and MKs from the coalition government advised him not to claiming that members of the opposition were planning to ambush him.

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According to the media, opposition leader, MK Tzipi Livni, delivered the main address at the gathering in which she slammed Netanyahu over the controversial bill and called for early elections.

“We commit to bringing the principles of the Declaration of Independence back into our lives. That’s our commitment, and we will fight for it until we win the elections,” Livni said.

Meanwhile, MK Wael Younis of the Joint List resigned from the Knesset on Tuesday as part of a rotation agreement between the parties that make up the Joint List. He is making way for MK, Niven Abu Rahmoun, of the National Democratic Assembly to lead the bloc.

Edelstein initially refused to sign Younis’ resignation letter because it was written in Arabic and sent it to the Knesset’s translation department before signing it.

“No person will sign a document they can’t read. I respect the Arabic language, but this is a fundamental matter,” Edelstein wrote on Twitter.