MK Zehava Galon (Meretz) echoed Sa’adi’s sentiments and said that “over the years there have been interior ministers who explained that this law is necessary because there is a demographic threat; because the Arab residents of Israel bring their wives in from the territories. Then it became a security threat. The truth is that there is a rightist government that hates Arabs, excludes them, and is now using the terror attacks as an excuse for this disgrace.”
MK Nachman Shai (Zionist Camp) said the provision “can certainly be seen as something which harms democratic values such as liberty and civil rights. However, we cannot ignore the circumstances, the life in this country, the incessant wave of terror attacks and the attack that occurred just four days ago in Tel Aviv. All this reinforces the feeling that we have to have more control over whom we allow into Israeli territory.”
Shai said that while the figures presented by the Shin Bet official had not convinced him, he agreed to support the extension of the provision based on Dichter’s promise that the joint committee would discuss the matter further within the next six months “in order to determine whether or not the provision is still justified.”
