Hadash MKs have presented bills in recent weeks in a bid to repeal laws that sharply curtail the civil rights of Israeli citizens, including the law that penalizes Israelis calling for a boycott of Israel or settlements in the Palestinian occupied territories.

Demonstration in Tel-Aviv against the biometric database law (Photo: Nilly Oren)

Hadash is also targeting the law that denies funding to groups that “undermine the foundations of the state and contradict its values,” including “its Jewish values.” The opposition also opposes the law mandating the establishment of a biometric database, and the law raising the electoral threshold to 3.25 percent from 2 percent. On March 18, 2014, the Knesset passed the Governance Law, raising the electoral threshold from 2 to 3.25 percent. All the coalition factions joined together to pass the law by a majority of 67 MKs. All the opposition factions opposed it, including the Hadash and the Arab parties, which argued that it would make it difficult for them to be elected to the Knesset in the future.

Hadash and the Arab parties have proposed two bills. One calls for the repeal of the electoral-threshold law, and the other simply puts the threshold at 2.5 percent, not 3.25 percent. MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) says this law was approved only because it was part of the so-called package deal that the governing coalition pushed through. In addition to the 54 opposition MKs who are against raising the threshold, some coalition MKs are against it, including lawmakers from Hatnuah and right-wing Habayit Hayehudi. There are 120 seats in the Knesset. Hadash is also proposing a bill to repeal the biometric database law. “The law raises many questions about protecting the basic rights of the individual, particularly the heavy price citizens might pay … if the database is hacked,” the bill states.