No Referendum on ceding Judea and Samaria

By Ted Belman

The referendum Law has now been passed as a Basic Law. According to JPOST,

    Basic Laws are considered by the Supreme Court to be superior to other laws, and legislation contradicting Basic Laws have been canceled by the court.

    The referendum law, which passed in the previous Knesset and is now a Basic Law, requires a referendum on any treaty that entails giving up land to which Israeli law applies, including the Golan Heights and east Jerusalem but not the West Bank.

    However, if more than 80 MKs support the treaty, it can be ratified without a referendum, and if fewer than 61 MKs back the treaty, it will be rejected without the nation voting on it.

Thus both a majority of the Knesset and a majority of Israelis must approve the give away of any sovereign land.

My major complaint with this law is that it doesn’t apply to any give away of parts of Judea and Shomron. Because such lands were allocated to Jews for their national home, they should also require the consent of the people.

At least, since any deal will involve swaps, Israelis will in fact be able to reject the give away of J&S. But this right can be by-passed by splitting the deal into two parts. First the government gives away what it wants of J&S and then just have a referendum on the swaps. Hopefully not.

March 13, 2014 | 20 Comments »
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  6. @ honeybee:

    I have always had sympathy for King Saul

    Honeybee we must be kindred spirits!
    One of my very favorite poems, is ‘In Ein Dor’ by tchernihovsky (it is in Hebrew… Might have been translated into english. If so do look it up. It’s hauntingly beautiful!)

  9. @ yamit82:
    An argument can be made that in a democraticly-organized parliamentary system, all national leaders in power through a coalition characterized by variegated political and social interests, gravitate toward sociopathy. We have seen this happen time and again in the national leaderships of Israel, in which greater or lesser power resides in a relatively large number of political parties, all of which have little inclination for non-partisan cooperation for the goverall good of the country.

    What Israel really has needed for a long time is a solid Jewish nationalist front led by men and women of strong character who will never allow themselves to be used as lapdogs for the interests of the now-fading North American empire.

    Arnold Harris
    Mount Horeb WI

  10. @ yamit82:
    As imperfect as Bibi may be he is way better than Olmert, Livini, Barak, Sharon or any of the Labor party leaders.

    Not trying to change your mind nor anyone elses’ who has grievances with Bibi. Just saying in this imperfect world he is better than the alternatives.

  12. yamit82 Said:

    he is a sociopath. There is not a word he utters that is truthful and he has so many negative character flaws that he endangers us all

    But he’s still cute in a cuddly sort of way!!!

  13. @ ArnoldHarris:

    It’s taken almost 6 years to see most of the readers and certainly most of those commenting on Israpundit coming around to my long stated opinion about BB. Actually none, even Harris has a more negative opinion of BB than I do. I believe he is a sociopath. There is not a word he utters that is truthful and he has so many negative character flaws that he endangers us all.

  14. My major complaint with this law is that it doesn’t apply to any give away of parts of Judea and Shomron.

    It does apply to Jerusalem and I don’t see either the Knesset or the majority of the Israeli people supporting or voting for splitting Jerusalem.

    So in all cases Jerusalem becomes a deal breaker unless all sides are willing to deal… split… and leave Jerusalem out of the package; therefore no end of conflict. If no end of conflict and security assurances I don’t see even a majority of support for a deal in the Knesset.

    Waiting to see how BB weasels his way out of his demands for “Jewish State” Recognition Demand in light of the apparent American rejection of this position in favor of Abbas?

  15. @ Golem

    After what just happened in Gaza, I can ‘t believe Bibi would ever offer up anything again. The US is untrustworthy, as is of course any of the Palestinian entities.

    What do you mean when you write “I can’t believe”? Exactly what is there about Netanyahu that you fail to understand? He’s little more than a loud-mouth spreading his accomodationist line of shit to whichever Western leader or national conference of rich American Jews that he thinks such people want to hear.

    You must know all this by now. So stop writing as if you were under the influence of some sort of sedative. What is evident by know is that he has made a career of sucking up to American and European leaders whose policies are influenced by enemies of the Jewish state and nation.

    Or do you seriously imagine otherwise?

    Arnold Harris
    Mount Horeb WI

  16. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the formal head of Israel’s 33rd government, which will mark its first anniversary next week. But the real head of government and state, its leader and navigator, is Naftali Bennett. His Habayit Hayehudi party was the only one among the coalition partners that converted its election success into real power.

    Bennett and his colleagues were elected to accelerate settlement construction in the territories, advance the West Bank’s annexation to Israel, and foil any peace arrangement with the Palestinians. Their secondary aim was to further the religious-Zionist community’s interests and strengthen its influence.

    At the end of a year’s term, Bennett appears to be well on his way to achieving both goals. A Central Bureau of Statistics report shows that the number of construction starts in the settlements broke a decade-long record in the past year, increasing by 123 percent compared to the previous year.

    Under Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel’s direction, public construction is funneled to the territories. The coalition passed the referendum law, which is intended to hinder or thwart any agreement with the Palestinians. The peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority are conducted in futile meetings and have so far posed no challenge to Habayit Hayehudi’s partnership in government.

    Habayit Hayehudi led discussions on the draft law. It managed to preserve the privileges of the hesder yeshiva students and obtained an exemption from military service for hundreds of “prodigies” from the religious-Zionist yeshivas.

    Netanyahu ran the cabinet meetings, but rarely got involved in state affairs, passing the time by sparring with U.S. President Barack Obama over his policy on Iran. The coalition factions acted over the past year like Bennett’s cheerleading team. Some did so enthusiastically – like most Likud MKs, who curry favor with the settlers – while others did so silently, in order to keep their seats – like the MKs from Yesh Atid and Hatnuah.

    The Above is extracted from HaAretz

    Since they strongly dislike Bennett and what he has achieved I believe this is more proof that Bennett has done a commendable job as an Israeli Cabinet Member, to further the cause of a strong and independent Israel.

  17. After what just happened in Gaza, I can ‘t believe Bibi would ever offer up anything again. The US is untrustworthy, as is of course any of the Palestinian entities.

  18. Any government of the modern State of Israel that were to agree to abandon any part of Eretz-Yisrael that has been reclaimed for the Jewish nation by that or any previous government of the State of Israel, should be regarded as an enemy both of the Jewish nation and of the instructions of haShem passed on to the Jewish nation in generation after generation.

    Any such government and its leaders should be regarded as traitors to the Jewish nation and to haShem, and should be treated in the manner that befits all traitors throughout the ages.

    We have known few victories but many defeats in our long national march. But the worst such defeats are those which have been laid upon our nation by our so-called leaders.

    No compromises are possible under present circumstances, and I am glad of that. Because I want the Jewish nation and whatever government leads our nation to have no choices other than the sweetness of victory or the bile of defeat.

    Arnold Harris
    Mount Horeb WI

  20. Hopefully we will annex the Jewish Settlements and Area C and then they would fall also fall under this new law.

    This is much more likely than a deal with the PLO.