Knesset plenum
Knesset plenumOlivier Fitoussi/Flash90

The Meretz faction on Wednesday filed an appeal with the Cabinet Secretariat requesting that the debate on the Citizenship Law be returned to the government before it is brought to the Knesset for approval.

Meretz explained alongside the filing of the appeal that the final outline that was supposed to be discussed in the plenum next week had not received their approval or the approval of the Ra'am faction.

Channel 12 News reported that this request by the Meretz faction came against the background of the serious coalition crisis of the last few days. On Tuesday, the Draft Law failed in its first reading after MK Zoabi of the Meretz faction voted against it as a protest against the government's policy regarding the Bedouin in the Negev and the government's support for the Nationality Act.. MK Ghanaim from Ra'am also refused to attend the vote, leading to the bill failing in a 54-54 vote.

Following the breaking of coalition discipline by the two MKs, a senior government official said that the conduct of some of the Arab MKs in the coalition threatened its stability. He even added that if this conduct is not stopped - it threatens the continued existence of the coalition.