The State Department and the Ambassador Tom Nides has been working with the Israeli government over the past year to help Israel qualify, as there are several requirements that always threw Israel for a loop. One of the main requirements is a low percentage of mistakes on visa applications - below 3%. Israeli applications seem to normally come back with much higher numbers than that, and that prevents, among other things, Israel for qualifying for the visa exemption. This year because of the past year's low travel rate, the Embassy has been able to help Israelis fill out the form properly and keep the mistakes to almost definitely below the cutoff line.
It seems the only thing holding up the arrangement is the Likud not wanting the current government to get this accomplishment, so they are opposing the arrangement and has voted and continues to vote against it. Nides has reportedly pleaded with Netanyahu to not hold up the legislation, saying cancelling it now could throw away the best, and maybe only, chance for this exemption to go through.
Be that as it may, the Likud put out a statement saying that they are opposing the legislation because the current legislation violates the privacy of Israelis, and when they form the government they will pass the legislation properly (though they didnt bother doing this over the 12 consecutive years they ran the government until last year).
That is funny considering how the Likud government sold the privacy (not really but probably about as much as this legislation does) of Israelis in 2020 when he gave it away as part of the deal to buy the COVID-19 vaccinations.
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