The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, has voted on Tuesday to raise the threshold for gaining a seat in the parliament to 3,25%. The bill got 67 votes, all of them from the coalition parties. Members of the opposition parties had left the rostrum in protest.
Previously parties needed only two percent (three seats) in order to crack the minimum threshold and that means that the new law in practice is going to work against the Arab parties specifically. If the law had been in effect during the last elections for the Knesset, none of these three parties - Hadash (leftist socialist) Balad (nationalist) or United List/Ta'am (general) would have gained a seat.
