On Tuesday, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, chaired by MK Boaz Bismut, approved for first reading a private member’s bill aimed at repealing a Jordanian-era law prohibiting the sale of land in Judea and Samaria to Israeli Jews. The Regavim Movement, which has campaigned for years to repeal this discriminatory law, described the committee’s decision as “a correction of a historic injustice.”

Although the Ministry of Defense’s Legal Advisor informed the committee that a professional opinion on the matter, submitted to the Ministry of Justice the previous day, is expected to render separate legislation unnecessary, Committee Chairman MK Bismut responded that legislative proceedings would continue in parallel with any administrative measures under consideration. 

In an earlier committee hearing, held approximately six months ago, the representatives of the various ministries asked to freeze the legislation’s progress, pending the military commander’s order addressing the issue that was expected “within a week.” As no such order ever materialized, the committee elected to proceed with primary legislation that would mandate the military commander to rescind the discriminatory provision. The proposed bill now advances to the Knesset plenum for first reading.

Regavim first petitioned the High Court of Justice to strike down Jordanian Law #40 in 2020. While the High Court acknowledged that the law is, in fact, racist and discriminatory, it ruled that this – and all other – matters of policy and diplomacy, should be addressed through legislation rather than judicial intervention.

Meir Deutsch, the Director General of Regavim, commented: “With this decision, the State of Israel has initiated the essential process of repealing a discriminatory and antisemitic legal relic. After years of effort to correct the distorted reality in which Jews are barred from purchasing land in Judea and Samaria—the only place in the world where such a prohibition exists—we applaud MK Moshe Saada and Knesset Land of Israel  Caucus co-Chairs Limor Son Har-Melech, Yuli Edelstein, and Simcha Rothman for their leadership in this matter, and MK Boaz Bismut, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, for his active partnership. At long last, our elected representatives are addressing this longstanding injustice, and look forward to the bill’s first reading in the plenum in the near future.”