JERUSALEM, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- A far-right party introduced a bill Tuesday limiting membership in the Israeli parliament to military veterans.
The bill has been introduced by Moshe Matalon, a legislator from Yisrael Beiteinu, which is part of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's governing coalition, Ynetnews.com reported. The party is headed by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
If the plan passes, it would effectively bar both ultra-Orthodox Jews and Muslims from the Knesset or parliament, and make their political parties impotent. Parliamentary candidates would have to have completed their military service or to have had a "justified" reason for an early discharge.
"Serving the country is part of the Israeli ethos," Matalon said. "It cannot be that people who did not serve their country will sit in the Israeli Knesset. Knesset members are supposed to be role models."
