The bill also provides military-political Cabinet the right to declare war without the consent of the government.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been granted the authority to declare war with only defense minister Avigdor Lieberman's approval in extreme situations, according to Haaretz newspaper.

The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, as well as the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee originally decided against the proposal, but it was later passed in the Knesset during a second and third reading, Haaretz newspaper reported. While 41 MKs opposed the law, 62 MKs voted in favor of passing it.

The new law stipulates that in "extreme" circumstances the Israeli prime minister can authorise military operations with only the backing of the defence minister.

"I have been talking to people who have been in the security cabinet and they have been telling me that this new law is absolutely insane", Yesh Atid faction chairman Ofer Shelah said.

"The law reflects the existing situation anyway", she said. "We won't be able to bring back the soldiers who, God forbid, will lose their lives in a war because one man took advantage of this law and made the wrong decision".

"The draft law states that there are two types of citizens: Jewish people with full rights and another group which is allowed to stay but without rights", Arab Knesset member Ahmad Tibi said.

Proposed by the right-wing Likud party, the "Jewish nation" bill was passed in the first reading by 64-50 votes.

Many changes are expected in the bill before it will be brought for further voting.

Israel's Knesset, or parliament, on Tuesday approved a preliminary reading of a controversial bill that considers Israel "the nation-state of the Jewish people". Additional elements in the character of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state in the spirit of the principles of the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel.