MK Miri Regev (Likud Beytenu) sharply criticized Justice Minister Tzipi Livni on Friday morning, after Livni the day before vowed to stop a newly proposed Basic Law enshrining Israel's status as the Jewish nation-state.
"I'm embarrassed that the justice minister, who is supposed to strengthen through legislation our existence as the Jewish nation, speaks like a left-wing extremist," stated Regev.
Speaking to radio Kol Yisrael, Regev said she hopes "that the face of the justice system is not like the face of the justice minister."
Regev added that the new law "won't cause damage to Israel in the international area, because everyone knows Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people."
Responding to Livni's pledge not to "allow anyone to weaken (Israel's) democratic values and to subordinate them to Jewish ones," Regev argued that "there is no contradiction between being Jewish and democratic."
"The state of Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish nation," remarked Regev. "We have nothing to be embarrassed about, or to apologize for, and we must continue working on this effort with all our strength."
Regev praised Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for announcing his intentions to submit the new law on Thursday, when he said "I find it astonishing that among those who call on Israel to make concessions in Judea and Samaria due to the self-evident desire to avoid a bi-national state, there are those who oppose defining the State of Israel as the national state of the Jewish People."
This is not the first time such an addition to Israel's Basic Laws has been attempted, only for Livni to shoot it down.
In 2011 Avi Dichter, a member of the Kadima party, had attempted to pass such a law, but it was shot down by Livni, who at the time was the leader of the Kadima party.
In 2013, MK Yariv Levin brought forth a mellowed version of a similar bill, which also was not advanced.