Knesset to vote on bill demanding loyalty pledge from senior diplomats serving abroad

The Knesset is set to vote today on a bill that would require loyalty pledges to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state from Israeli ambassadors and consuls general before they receive their postings.

The bill comes up for a first reading. It will have to pass two more readings before becoming law.

Backed by Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, the bill would amend the law on diplomatic service appointments to say that the heads of diplomatic missions must swear allegiance as a precondition to receiving their official appointment.

Cohen’s office says that the bill was a response to last year’s thwarted appointment of then-Meretz lawmaker Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi as consul general in Shanghai. An Arab Muslim, Rinawie Zoabi has said that she does not connect to Israel’s “Jewish soul,” and before her brief stint as a lawmaker in the last coalition, she co-edited a document that does not recognize Israel as a Jewish state.