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Knesset OKs jail for disloyal speech

JERUSALEM, May 27 (UPI) -- The Israeli Knesset Wednesday approved a preliminary reading of a bill that would outlaw calls for the end of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.

The measure, approved 47-37, was sponsored by Habayit Hayehudi party MK Zevulun Orlev and calls for the year-long imprisonment of anyone making public comments that would "cause an act of hatred, scorn or disloyalty to the state," The Jerusalem Post reported.

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The bill came hard on the heels of another measure proposed this week by Yisrael Beiteinu MK Alex Miller that seeks to outlaw commemorating Israel's Independence Day as a day of mourning, as many Palestinians and some Israeli Arabs do now.

That bill moves Israel to an "apartheid state," an Arab member of Knesset declared Sunday, saying it is "is no less severe than the laws enacted by the Third Reich."

MK Afo Agbaria told the Post, "The State of Israel has declared jihad on the Arab population. Israel is gradually becoming an apartheid state. I won't be surprised if in the future the Netanyahu-Lieberman government imposes additional restrictions on Arab citizens, including forbidding the use of the Arabic language."

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