<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Knesset Passes Bill Prohibiting Nakba&nbsp;Commemoration]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>23.03.11 &#8211; 12:26| PNN &#8211; Palestine News Network <a href="http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=9757&amp;Itemid="><br />
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<p>The Israeli legislature has passed a bill that will require the  state to fine local authorities or state funded bodies that commemorate  the Palestinian Nakba Day.</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" title="Image" src="https://i0.wp.com/english.pnn.ps/images/stories/2008/Nakba62.jpg" border="2" alt="Image" hspace="6" width="248" height="350" /> The bill has been reworked since its proposal in May 2009; originally  the bill authorized a three-year prison sentence for anyone seen  commemorating the Nakba. Now it imposes a fine on any group or authority  that hosts an event acknowledging the Palestinian Nakba.</p>
<p>Any such state-funded body will be forced to pay three times its cost in fines for violating the new bill.</p>
<p>The legislation was drafted by MK Adam Miller of Israel Beiteinu and saw a vote with 37 in favor and 25 opposed.</p>
<p>MK  David Rotem, also of Israel Beiteinu, justified the passage of the law,  stating, &#8220;I am not ashamed for wanting to protect this state as a  Jewish and democratic state.&#8221;</p>
<p>The bill was criticized heavily by  MK Isaac Herzog of the Labor Party, as well as MKs Dov Khenin and Hanin  Zoabi, of Hadash and Balad, respectively.</p>
<p>MK Herzog, claiming  that the bill had been drafted against the recommendations of the  attorney general, told the Knesset, &#8220;on this day the thought police is  being established in Israel.&#8221;</p>
<p>MK Hana Sweid of Hadash argued that the bill is inherently incongruent with free expression.</p>
<p>He  imagined a scenario in which someone could be in violation of the bill  without engaging in any kind of anti-state activites, such as mourning  relatives lost in the Nakba:</p>
<p>&#8220;To criminally accuse me of denying  the existence and independence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic  state is slander. It is an unproven collective charge.&#8221;</p>
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<p>.</p>
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