Legislative revolution in Israel?

[Hnv1]

This new Knesset seat will see several important legislation coming up, amongst the notable ones:
- Civil marriage in Israel. heretofore only religious institution from the different religions could marry individuals with many problems surfacing for atheist, secular people, eastern European immigrants, and none mainline Jews (with minor problems for the Muslim and Christian minorities as well).

- SSM, the civil marriage act will be bundled up with an SSM clause thus trying to force this one through. It's odd we had to wait until 2013 to see this coming to the Knesset with force considering Israel was one of the most progressive states regarding gay rights in the 90s and the general openness of the secular community to LGBT issues.

Those bills will be brought up by Yesh Atid with Meretz, Labour, Livni,  and Hadash expected to support it. Likud will probably split on that, and Israel Beitenu will unshockingly betray their voters and vote  against it. Haredi, Jewish Home, and the Arab parties will all oppose.
I believe this showdown will be interesting.

- Decriminalization of Cannabis user. This bill is being push forward by MK Zandberg (Meretz) and the 'interesting' MK Feiglin (Likud). Finally after years this issue had been bumped to the public attention after Lapid claimed he had not smoked weed only to have people come up and say that not only had they smoked with him but he also hooked them up!
I believe most of the coalition will oppose this and again this will be a very interesting battle to observe.

Parental leave for fathers, freedom of information bills, and more progressive legislation will be coming up as well. The composition of this Knesset with the convenient time might turn this Knesset seat historic.

With the negotiations with the Palestinians push forward we may very well see a new coalition as well by the turn of this seat...

[Hnv1]

This new Knesset seat will see several important legislation coming up, amongst the notable ones:
- Civil marriage in Israel. heretofore only religious institution from the different religions could marry individuals with many problems surfacing for atheist, secular people, eastern European immigrants, and none mainline Jews (with minor problems for the Muslim and Christian minorities as well).

Not to mention making cross-community marriage almost impossible.

And many many more problems (like coming with bride-to-be and getting a bearded 80 year old rabbi perv questioning you on your sex life), this is seriously one of the most troubling topics in Israeli society eclipsed only by the occupation\Palestinian conflict.

Well hifly15 I am a bit shocked to hear this from a German, you are the first of which I ever encountered who showed such socially backward position.

[Hnv1]

Support for SSM makes it hard to win the South because the South is very religious.

I don't think anyone cares about marijuana legalization though. It's something that 99% of the people who take more than 5 seconds to think about it are in favor of.

That is why people are mistaken on the issue... They only take five seconds to think on it. Let us examine the issue. If marijuana is legalised, presumably with sales taxes imposed... Then the people who were previously supplying it aren't simply going to vanish. No, either they will turn to more insidious forms of crime, or, more likely, they will easily undercut the price of legal dope with cheaper, nastier stuff. Marijuana legalisation will not reduce crime. It's just an excuse for people to turn a blind eye to the real problems it causes in society.

Cheaper nastier stuff will only happen if the pot tax is set too high, which is a possibility. Some of the people supplying pot will presumably go into supplying the legal stuff.  The people who supply pot now aren't in it for the purpose of making society depraved and wicked, they are in it for the purpose of making money.

I don't think they will go into supplying the stuff legally, especially since selling drugs is usually just one section of business for most criminals. Setting any rate of tax on marijuana will still push it above the prices that it was previously sold at, leaving a large gap in the market for illegal dope. One point that I have heard raised (in other circles)  is that there isn't a large trade in illegal cigarettes because of taxes on that. Firstly, whilst there is actually a small illegal trade in cigarettes, people understimate the fact that since cigarettes are so ingrained into our society, most people wouldn't even think of trying to get them illegally. Marijuana on the other hand isn't so ingrained, but the people that do take it may still go to dealers to purchase it, because they know how to get it on the black market. Drug dealers will still make money from its sale, maybe not as much as before, but enough to warrent them contuing to trade.

As for it not being harmful, well, it may be one of the least harmful drugs, but that doesn't mean that it's harmless, and, personally, I feel that if it is kept illegal, perhaps with a greater focus put on catching the people that sell it than those that consume it, it may be easier to prevent its use becoming more endemic in society than it already is...

As a cannabis user for years I describe what you say as utter BS. when it's legal no one wants to buy from the stoner fuzzy guy in the van when they go in a dispensary or a coffee-shop and buy 5g of prime types.

I advise you look at what happened around the world in recent years with places who did decriminalization and see how absurd your view is.

[Hnv1]

It's a shame this thread has been hijacked, because it was very interesting. Can we talk about legislation in Israel and not about hifly15's political views? You can take that to individual politics.

Is this going to be real civil marriage or is it going to be civil unions (non-marriage marriage equivalent) on demand?

I really am interested to know why people oppose marijuana legalization though. It's such a bizarre view.

Civil unions. Marriage is still such a taboo in Jewish society I can't see any party part from Meretz or extreme Labour that will touch that.

[Hnv1]

First blossom: after years or attempts (and failures with Haredi coalitions) the minimal marriage age was finally raised to 18 with a wide support from left to right.

Labour's SSM was rejected by the coalition probably due to Livni's and Lapid's bill coming up soon

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Debatable, especially since your perception of Israel is probably of that of the secular coastline.

[Hnv1]

- Decriminalization of Cannabis user. This bill is being push forward by MK Zandberg (Meretz) and the 'interesting' MK Feiglin (Likud).

Is Support for cannabis supposed to somehow be incompatible with being right wing that Feiglin's support for it warrants the 'interesting' moniker?

As for the laws themselves, legalizing Marijuana is obviously the right thing, but I worry that all we will get is haggling over medical Marijuana rather than just legalizing the whole thing.

With regards to the marriage issue, I'm not a fan of keeping two separate marriage systems, all marriages between two consenting adults should be allowed, and you can let each rabbi decide who he wants to marry if the couple want one. But since I can't imagine such a thing being passed, what is being proposed would certainly be better than the current situation.

No, Feiglin's character makes him interesting, Libertarian opinions on civil right with ultra-hawkish opinions makes him rather unique in the Israeli right or the entire Israeli political spectrum at general. I met him recently in a meeting of the lobby for professionalized armed forces in Israel (who he is the only supporter from the right wing I encountered) and he is by far the most eclectic politician I've met in Israel