Government source says David Bitan knows he won’t have the needed support to restrict the freedom of speech of Israeli citizens
That likelihood that a bill forbidding Israeli citizens from calling for international action against Israel at international bodies will will the needed Knesset support to pass, a source within the ruling coalition said Monday.
The proposed bill is the work of coalition Chairman David Bitan (Likud) who last week called to strip the Israeli citizenship of B’Tselem Director Hagai El-Ad for appearing before the UN Security Council the week prior and calling for action against Israel over West Bank settlements.
Bitan had said the suggested legislation would bar Israelis from calling for action against the Jewish state before international bodies that could potentially impose sanctions, such as the Security Council, and that transgressors would lose their citizenship.
His proposals drew fire from lawmakers across the political spectrum, who called it undemocratic, ignorant and short-sighted.
Speaking to Haaretz, a source within the coalition said it felt like the whole thing was “an attempt by Bitan to stand out in the media and less like a move that is actually feasible.”
“Bitan first proposed a process to revoke the citizenship of the B’Tselem director and the next day, when he realized that stood no chance, he quickly announced a different bill on the issue,” said the source.
“Bitan is a serious man. Even he knows that he will not have the backing to restrict the right to free speech of Israeli citizens,” the sources added.
El-Ad sparked fury in Israel when he spoke at the UN Security Council on October 14 and denounced the “invisible, bureaucratic daily violence” that dominates Palestinian life “from cradle to grave,” including Israeli control over entrance and exit from the territories, and farming rights.
The NGO director’s remarks drew fierce denunciations from Israeli politicians, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who vowed he would bar national service volunteers from working with the left-wing human rights organization.
Bitan had said that the B’Tselem chief’s actions constituted a “borderline flagrant breach of trust by an Israeli citizen against the state, and therefore it’s appropriate for him to find other citizenship.”
B’Tselem responded to Bitan’s comments, saying that “these threats won’t deter us and hundreds of thousands of Israelis who oppose the occupation.
As reported by The Times of Israel