The Knesset Plenum on Thursday gave its final approval to a bill allowing to grant a campaign citation to soldiers of the South Lebanon Army (SLA) who participated in the war in Lebanon.
The South Lebanon Army Persons and Their Families Bill (Amendment), 2021, was approved in the third and final reading by a vote of 5 to 0.
The bill gives the Defense Minister the authority to award the medal to South Lebanon Army soldiers who fought alongside IDF soldiers in the security zone in south Lebanon.
The explanatory notes attached to the bill read: “From the beginning of the civil war in Lebanon in the 1970s until the withdrawal of Israel in May 2000 to the international border with Lebanon, military and civilian reciprocal relations were forged, developed, and established between the State of Israel and the IDF and Lebanese forces originating in the Lebanese army in the southern Lebanon region, first under the command of Major Saad Haddad and then under the command of General Antoine Lahad.”
“These forces, known as the South Lebanon Army – SLA, fought shoulder to shoulder with IDF soldiers during the campaign in the security zone in southern Lebanon.”
As legislation goes, the plenum approved an addendum to the citations bill that was submitted by Finance Minister MK Israel Katz (Likud) regarding the aid plan for businesses. The approved reservation determines that the calculation for providing aid grants to self-employed individuals and employed people with controlling interest (social benefits) for 2021, will be done by comparing the drop in turnover to the reduction in 2018 or 2019, whichever year had the larger drop in turnover. The same calculation was used to provide aid grants to businesses in 2020. And the 5 MKs in the house at the time approved that one, too.