Word: knesset
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...while, Israel officially noticed the slaughter of Jews in Ethiopia. In 1979, the North American Jewish Student's Network sponsored a speaking tour for Zacharius Yona, an Ethiopian Jew. The tour, and the demonstration in Israel that same year, forced the Knesset in November to debate publicly the Falasha question for the first time. The legislators resolved that "the Government...should not keep silent but should...[help] our Jewish brothers from Ethiopia." Prime Minister Begin created committees to study possible rescue attempts, and for a brief while, progress seemed likely: during 1980, 665 Falashas were rescued. Within a year, however...
Begin's startling push for annexation caught even his advisers by surprise. Fearing extensive public discussion, his ruling Likud party pushed the measure through the Israeli Knesset after just six hours of debate. The Prime Minister never bothered to explain why forcing the inhabitants of the Golan to abide by Israeli law was suddenly so critical, and instead he recalled past Syrian injustices to Israel. The timing was perfect; in addition to the Polish confrontation, Syrian troops are tied down as "peace-keepers" in Lebanon, and the United States and Egypt seem determined not to provoke an Israeli retreat from...
After more than six hours of raucous debate, Begin got what he wanted. By a 63-to-21 vote, the Knesset agreed to extend "the law, jurisdiction and administration of the state" to the heights area, which has been treated for 14 years by Israel as occupied foreign territory under military rule. Israel's move fell short of outright annexation, but only in the narrowest legal sense...
Begin, however, had anticipated the American reaction in his pugnacious Knesset speech: "We consciously decided not to ask [the U.S.], since we had no doubt that our American friends would tell us no, and with all due respect, we could not take this no into account...
Israeli extremists have argued for years that the heights should be annexed. A bill to do so was initiated more than a year ago by firebrand Knesset Member Geula Cohen. But in December 1980, Begin's Cabinet voted 15 to 2 against promoting the measure for fear of adverse world reaction. After the Prime Minister's cliffhanging election victory of last June, however, the Cabinet's mood began to change in a hawkish direction. Golan annexation had been one of the planks in Begin's election campaign, and, to fashion his two-seat majority...