The law originated in a 2002 Cabinet order freezing the issue of citizenship on family reunification grounds between Israeli citizens and residents of areas governed by the Palestinian National Authority.
[4][5] In particular, the minority judgement, written by Chief Justice Aharon Barak, emphasized the temporary nature of the law's effect, arguing that "the appropriate goal of increasing security is not justifying severe harm to many thousands of Israeli citizens."
The majority justices in this decision treated the rights of the Palestinian citizens of Israel as though they are an immigrant non-citizen group and not a homeland indigenous minority.
The Court also discussed the role of demographic considerations and showed inclination to accept restricting the rights of the Palestinian citizens in order to preserve a Jewish majority among the population in Israel.
It is argued that the arguments and justifications used by the Supreme Court provide the building blocks for a legal framework that explicitly institutionalises separate hierarchical categories of citizenship.
[9] The law expired on 6 July 2021, after the new coalition government headed by Naftali Bennett failed to muster enough votes for its extension; despite Yamina striking a deal with the coalition parties Ra'am, Labor Party and Meretz to let it pass in return for reducing the extension period to six months, granting A-5 visa to 1,600 Palestinian families, and resolving the issue of 9,700 Palestinians staying in the country from permission by the IDF.
Within sixty years, Jews would be a minority within Israel (not including the West Bank and Gaza Strip), effectively destroying the Jewish character of the state.
"[18] When the law was renewed in June 2008, the publisher of the Israeli daily Ha'aretz argued that its existence makes Israel into an apartheid state.