The Knesset will discuss today the intention of the Minister of Justice, Gideon Saar, to join Israel as a member of the Council of Europe Convention on Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention), which entered into force in 2014. The difficulty in joining stems from the proper goal Serves as a disguise for international commitments that will lead to the loss of control over entry into Israel.
Israel is the only nation-state of the Jewish people.
In 2,000 years of exile, riots and persecution were imposed on our people.
In the words of the poet Natan Alterman, "in the cries of our children in the shadow of gallows we have not heard the wrath of the world ... they know that their blood is not counted in blood."
The state was established so that every Jew here would have a home to go to, whether he wanted to live a full Jewish life or whether he had to flee from anti-Semitism in his place of residence.
This identity is expressed in the Law of Return, which states that "every Jew is entitled to immigrate to Israel."
Since its inception, Israel has absorbed Jews and their families from all over the world, who have doubled and tripled its population.
Every wave of immigration contributed to Kibbutz Psorino from the back of the country.
Chapter 7 of the Convention ("Immigration and Refuge") is problematic.
Article 59 ("Residency status") obliges the state to grant independent status to foreign spouses, who have begun the "graded procedure for obtaining status in Israel" and have fallen victim to violence by Israeli spouses.
Article 60 ("Gender-Based Asylum Claims") grants gender-based refugee status, including LGBT people, although the application for asylum on this basis has been rejected in the European Court of Human Rights and is not recognized in the Refugee Convention. The numbers are not negligible. That one in three women suffers from gender-based violence.
Article 61 ("non-return") provides that any woman who has experienced physical, economic or psychological violence - be it in Belgium, Eritrea or the Palestinian Authority - will not be returned to the country where she is in danger.
And there is no need to prove the violence.
The provisions must be applied in the domestic law of each of the Contracting States.
The possibility of a reservation exists only with regard to Article 59. The Ministry of Justice announced that at the time of the engagement, Israel will add an "interpretive comment": the Convention will be interpreted in accordance with Israeli law.
However, in international law there is no circumvention of obligations. The issue is not theoretical. An "interpretive remark" added by Poland that the provisions of the treaty would be interpreted in accordance with Polish law was rejected by the contracting countries.
It is now seeking to withdraw from the Convention.
The government must reject the initiative, which would jeopardize Israel's unique identity.
After 2,000 years of exile, in which we experienced the fate of a people without a homeland, we must not easily lose the right to fulfill here the dream of generations "to be a free people in our country, the Land of Zion and Jerusalem", in bringing foreigners without quotas and without supervision.
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