An article in The New York Times summarized the last legislative week in the Knesset. The article argued that the laws enacted last week show a sharp and “extraordinary” shift to the right.
On Monday, the newspaper told its readers, the Knesset “empowered the education minister to bar some groups that criticize the Israeli occupation of the West Bank from speaking in public schools.”
“On Tuesday, it accelerated what critics call the creeping annexation of the West Bank by cutting off Palestinians’ access to the Supreme Court in land disputes. On Wednesday, it blocked single men and gay couples from having children through surrogacy.”
The “capstone,” the newspaper said, came on Thursday, with the passage of the Nationality Law.
The newspaper cited voices on the Israeli left such as Dr. Donniel Hartman, president of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, who called the legislation “madness.”
On the other hand, it quoted Likud MK Sharren Haskel, who said, “There are people who it’s in their interest to make it sound extreme, but they’re overexaggerating. We are a right-wing government, we’re proud of it, and we’re bringing Israel to a better place.”
According to the report, “Israelis across the political spectrum cited support from the Trump administration as providing Mr. Netanyahu’s government with protective cover” for such developments. These Israelis also pointed to “the wave of nationalism and populism sweeping across Europe and the United States” as a factor facilitating the right-wing trends.
“Still,” the newspaper wrote, “the rightward legislative lurch was extraordinary for Israel.”