Fwd: ZOA's Daube Testifies at Knesset Hearing on Judea/Samaria

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From: "Zionist Organization of America" <info@zoa.org>
Date: Jun 13, 2017 9:05 AM
Subject: ZOA's Daube Testifies at Knesset Hearing on Judea/Samaria
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ZOA Israel Director Daube and Legal Grounds spokesperson Goldin-Halevy on Knesset panel with government advocacy colleagues (Photo Credit: Legal Grounds)

Landmark Knesset Hearing On Applying Israeli Law to Judea-Samaria, Testimony by ZOA Sponsored 'Legal Grounds' The Legal Grounds Campaign has embarked on a game-changing Knesset effort, expanding on the recent Shaked-Levin government directive, which looks to ensure equal treatment for all Israeli citizens no matter on which side of the Green Line they reside. Share       For more information contact Morton A. Klein 212-481-1500 Follow @mortonaklein on Twitter NEW YORK, June 12, 2017 By Jeff Daube ISRAEL, June 8. ZOA Israel director Jeff Daube, also co-chairing with Arlene Kushner the respected Legal Grounds Campaign largely supported by ZOA, was invited to testify at a special session of the Knesset House Committee coinciding with the Six Day War's golden anniversary this week. The hearing, convened to explore ways of adapting Israeli law for fairer treatment of citizens in Judea and Samaria, was well attended by government ministers and Knesset members, who welcomed the chance to demand an end to fifty years of marginalization based on residence. Ministers Ayelet Shaked and Yariv Levin, also present at the hearing, promoted their recent directive requiring that government bills include Judea and Samaria from June 1st onward.  Justice Minister Shaked: "We are trying to change the legislative reality in the Knesset…There is no doubt that the [450,000] residents of Judea and Samaria must be equal to those of all other residents of Israel…It needs to happen for every law."   Tourism Minister Levin: "There are huge gaps between government policy and what is happening on the ground…Lack of legislation beyond the Green Line, and the need for military orders, are the most blatant expressions of discriminatory and unequal treatment of the residents in Judea and Samaria. This [is] in complete contradiction to government policy."   "Israeli citizens who live beyond the Green Line pay taxes and serve in the army, like everyone else. They deserve the same rights guaranteed by the laws that concern, for example, access for the disabled, environmental quality, and worker entitlements." Weeks earlier, Legal Grounds had decided to enter the discussion about citizen rights once it realized the important Shaked-Levin directive would not be applied retroactively. The directive also is limited because it only applies to government sourced bills, and not to private bills introduced independently by Knesset members.  Bayit Yehudi faction head and ZOA Israel friend MK Shulamit Mualem, one of the many attendees agreeing with Legal Grounds that measures must be sought to include private bills, and from before June 1st as well, stated, "The lack of total equality is something that needs to be rectified [by applying] both previous and future laws in Judea and Samaria." By way of example, she continued, during the last two and a quarter years of the currently serving Knesset, 322 laws have been enacted but only five may be implemented over the Green Line.  Legal Grounds spokesperson Shlomit Goldin-Halevy also testified, saying that Legal Grounds would be setting up a committee to monitor the work of Knesset members toward this end. She added, "It's a shame that human rights groups do not bother to discuss the rights of Israeli citizens who are harmed due to the legislative gaps. Israeli citizens who live beyond the Green Line pay taxes and serve in the army, like everyone else. They deserve the same rights guaranteed by the laws that concern, for example, access for the disabled, environmental quality, and worker entitlements."  Legal Grounds also plans on pursuing modifications to extant legislation to ensure that, besides in the aforementioned areas, maternity rights and prohibitions against denying business services to uniformed IDF soldiers are extended to Judea and Samaria. Meanwhile, Daube shared that he was committed to combating—in his dual capacity as director of the ZOA Israel Office and co-head of Legal Grounds—the accusations of the Israeli and American extreme Left that his group's initiative constitutes "creeping annexation."  "'Creeping equalization' would be a more apt term," Daube said. "After fifty years of discrimination against the Israeli citizens living in Israel's heartland communities of Judea and Samaria, it's about time we witnessed meaningful change under the law. Besides overlooking the injustices of the current status, the protestors conveniently ignore the fact that such moves do not meet the legal criteria for annexation. Furthermore, remediating the problem now does not preclude future negotiations on any reasonable option being contemplated for the land's eventual disposition." After the hearing, the Legal Grounds co-chairs sent a letter (attached) informing Knesset leaders that, after six months, it will issue a report to let the general public—especially residents of Judea and Samaria—know about the steps being taken by the named MKs to advance new legislation and amend previous legislation benefiting all of Israel's citizens.

Follow ZOA    About the ZOA The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is the oldest and one of the largest pro-Israel organizations in the United States. With offices around the country and in Israel, the ZOA educates the public, elected officials, the media, and college/high school students about the truth of the ongoing Arab war against Israel. The ZOA works to strengthen U.S.- Israel relations through educational activities, public affairs programs and our work on Capitol Hill, and to combat anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias in the media, in textbooks, in schools and on college campuses. Under the leadership of such presidents as Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, and current President Morton A. Klein, the ZOA has been - and continues to be - on the front lines of Jewish activism. www.zoa.org. For more information contact Morton A. Klein 212-481-1500.

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