Just before leaving for spring recess on March 10, the Knesset approved Israel's controversial citizenship law with 45 for and 15 against. After almost nine months of debate, the new legislation effectively denies West Bank and Gaza Palestinians married to Israeli citizens from gaining citizenship or residency status.
After the vote, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked said in a statement, “This is a Zionist law for our national security that should not have been abandoned for narrow politics.” She later celebrated with a victory tweet: “A Jewish and democratic state 1; a state for all its citizens 0.”
