Knesset advancing law requiring 80 votes for territorial concessions

The Knesset Constitution Committee continued work today (Monday) on a proposed bill for a first vote - an amendment to the proposed Basic Law: Referendum. The proposal aims to change the territorial application of Basic Law: Referendum to apply to both Judea and Samaria and to Israel's territorial waters.

According to the proposal, any agreement to give up territory within Judea and Samaria or in Israel's territorial waters would require a majority of 80 MKs, as opposed to the simple majority currently required.

The inclusion of territorial waters in the law appears to be a rebuke of then-Prime Minister Yair Lapid's maritime borders deal with Lebanon and Hezbollah, which many on the right consider to have been a very bad deal which surrendered control of territory for no real gain.

Opposition party Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinvosky, author of the bill banning UNRWA from operating in any Israel-controlled territory, said that:

"In light of developments in the region, talk about this or that agreement in light of the past, we must act with particular caution to not allow decision makers to act according to this or that interest. We should not make decisions for which we will all pay a price afterward. We in Yisrael Beytenu support this law in this formulation. I very much hope that the Prime Minister will not block the advance of the law."