Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein has agreed to examine a proposal by Likud MK Amir Ohana aimed at countering efforts by Joint Arab List lawmakers to drum up support for a European Union condemnation of Israel over the controversial nation-state law.
Ohana wrote to Edelstein to suggest the Knesset send a delegation of lawmakers to Brussels to meet with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, the same officials with whom Joint Arab List members met last week to discuss the legislation.
The controversial law, which defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, has been sharply criticized by the country's Arab minority, with Arab lawmakers calling it "racist" and "verging on apartheid."
Ohana, who chaired the Knesset committee that formulated the legislation, wrote to Edelstein that he "would be honored" to take part and even head a delegation that would meet with the very same officials in an effort to "refute the Joint Arab List's campaign of lies."
He accused Arab lawmakers of holding meetings with EU officials in order to destroy Israel's "democratic character through blatant lies and the distortion of reality in regard to the nation-state law.
"We must not wait for the Joint Arab List's lies to make their way around the world," Ohana urged, saying "swift and effective counteraction must be taken in the form of an official parliamentary delegation that will act on the same plane and meet with those same officials."
Should Edelstein agree to Ohana's request, opposition lawmakers will likely not be allowed to join the delegation, as they opposed the nation-state law.
As Knesset speaker, Edelstein has the authority to decide on parliamentary delegations' overseas trips as well as the composition of such delegations.
