MK Oren Hazan (Likud) has proposed a law to establish the country's name as Israel, and to confirm the current flag as the State flag, and the same with Hatikva and the national symbol (the menora, I guess).
The proposal passed unanimously in its first reading in the Knesset Legislative Committee, and will next be sent to the Knesset for voting..
Hazan explained that when the new MKs, including himself, were given their intro to the Knesset they were elected to, he discovered that while the leaders at the time of the founding of the State settled on the name "Israel", they never set it in law. The Declaration of Independence says the name will be set in law, but that never actually happened. Technically, people could have said until now that they are living in Palestine. MKs could have signed their names as members of the Kingdom of Palestine.source: Bizportal
It seems insane to me that the name was not even officially official until now (assuming the proposal passes). It even sounds insane that this needs to be a law. Is there a law determining the name of the United States of America, or the United Kingdom, or France or South Africa? How does one break this law, and what would the punishment be?
I wonder if the Arab MKs will vote against. I wonder if other MKs will open the vote to debate and suggest other names.
And how could we demand the Palestinians recognize Israel, and try to get other nations to, if we were not even Israel for the past 70 years??!!
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