Many felt that this is not sufficient. Given, as stated, a particular Israeli political constellation and sufficiently strong international pressure – not to mention 13 Arab-party MKs, as are about to enter the Knesset – even 61 Knesset members could conceivably be mustered to vote against Israeli sovereignty over the entire united city. For those who doubt, look up Alex Goldfarb and Gonen Segev, who were “persuaded” – with the help of appointments to ministerial and deputy-ministerial posts, respectively – to vote against the ideology on which they had been elected to the Knesset and in favor of the 1995 Oslo Agreement.
Thus, attempts were made to pass a law that would not allow any changes to the Jerusalem Law unless at least 80 MKs vote for them.
In 2007, then-Likud faction head Gideon Saar filed a motion to that end, saying that that the Knesset is obligated to protect Jerusalem and its “special meaning to the Jewish people.” This motion was ultimately buried, but in late 2013 the idea had more success – but only slightly
The ministerial committee on legislation voted in favor of an 80-MK Jerusalem majority bill, proposed by Yaakov Litzman of United Torah Judaism. This meant the government was supposed to support it in the Knesset. However, when it actually came to a Knesset vote, in December 2013, nearly the entire Likud faction, including Prime Minister Netanyahu and current President Ruby Rivlin, absented themselves from the vote. It was defeated by a 51-12 margin.
Opposition head Yitzhak Herzog said at the time that the vote had saved Israel from “irreversible damage” in the international arena. Meretz Party chief Zahava Gal’on said that the Netanyahu government had shamed itself in that “the coalition members ran away [from the vote] and the opposition saved the fate of the diplomatic talks.”
Such reactions clearly reveal the importance of requiring an 80-MK majority in order to effect changes. They prove that there are many mainstream elements in Israel – including those who nearly won the recent election – who insist on doing whatever they can to enable the division of Jerusalem and the transfer of parts thereof to the Palestinian Authority.
