Ramallah: Supporters of the Israel boycott will automatically be denied entry to territories under the control of the Israeli regime in the event a bill which enjoys great support in Israel’s parliament becomes law.
According to the bill proposed by Yinon Magal, the Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) member of the Knesset (parliament), and co-sponsored by members of the Knesset from Zionist Union, Yesh Atid, Kulanu, United Torah Judaism, Shas and Likud, people from around the world who call for boycotting Israel, will not be able to receive visa or residency permits in territories it claims as its own or occupies.
“The absurd situation in which a person can be active in boycotting Israel and harming it abroad and then come to Israel and be accepted with open arms must be stopped,” Magal was quoted by the Israeli daily the Jerusalem Post as saying. “A country that wants to live cannot allow such a reality.”
The proposed bill is also applicable to people with Jewish origin who are eligible for Israeli citizenship, in a clear contradiction with the Israeli regime’s so-called ‘Law of Return’, which extends the right of citizenship to any Jew around the world on the basis of his or her faith or assumed Jewish ethnicity. The bill however allows the Israeli interior minister to make exceptions.
The bill has been motivated by increasing calls to boycott Israel and the Israeli colonies in the West Bank. “It seems that [boycotts are] a new front in war against Israel. For which the state, thus far, has avoided proper preparing,” the bill proposed to the Knesset read. “The bill is meant to prevent people or representatives of companies and organisations that call to boycott Israel to enter our territory.”
