Jerusalem – Israel Adopts Divisive Jewish Nation-state Law

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    The Knesset Plenary Hall during speeches ahead of the vote on the National Law, which will enforce the foundation of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish People, on July 18, 2018. Photo by Hadas Parush/Flash90Jerusalem – Israel passed a law early Thursday morning to declare that only Jews have the right of self-determination in the country, something members of the Arab minority called racist and verging on apartheid.

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    The “nation-state” law, backed by the right-wing government, passed by a vote of 62-55 and two abstentions in the 120-member parliament after months of political argument. Some Arab lawmakers shouted and ripped up papers after the vote.

    “This is a defining moment in the annals of Zionism and the history of the state of Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset after the vote.

    Largely symbolic, the law was enacted just after the 70th anniversary of the birth of the state of Israel. It stipulates that “Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people and they have an exclusive right to national self-determination in it”.

    The bill also strips Arabic of its designation as an official language alongside Hebrew, downgrading it to a “special status” that enables its continued use within Israeli institutions.

    Israel’s Arabs number some 1.8 million, about 20 percent of the 9 million population.

    Early drafts of the legislation went further in what critics at home and abroad saw as discrimination toward Israel’s Arabs, who have long said they are treated as second-class citizens.

    Clauses that were dropped in last-minute political wrangling – and after objections by Israel’s president and attorney-general – would have enshrined in law the establishment of Jewish-only communities, and instructed courts to rule according to Jewish ritual law when there were no relevant legal precedents.

    Instead, a more vaguely-worded version was approved, which says: “The state views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value and will act to encourage and promote its establishment.”

    Even after the changes, critics said the new law will deepen a sense of alienation within the Arab minority.

    “I announce with shock and sorrow the death of democracy,” Ahmed Tibi, an Arab lawmaker, told reporters.

    Netanyahu has defended the law. “We will keep ensuring civil rights in Israel’s democracy but the majority also has rights and the majority decides,” he said last week.

    “An absolute majority wants to ensure our state’s Jewish character for generations to come.”

    Israel’s Arab population is comprised mainly of descendants of the Palestinians who remained on their land during the conflict between Arabs and Jews that culminated in the war of 1948 surrounding the creation of the modern state of Israel. Hundreds of thousands were forced to leave their homes or fled.

    Those who remained have full equal rights under the law but say they face constant discrimination, citing inferior services and unfair allocations for education, health and housing.

    In Ma’alot-Tarshiha, a municipality in northern Israel which was created by linking the Jewish town of Ma’alot and the Arab town of Tarshiha, there was anger among Arab residents.

    “I think this is racist legislation by a radical right-wing government that is creating radical laws, and is planting the seeds to create an apartheid state,” said physician Bassam Bisharah, 71.

    “The purpose of this law is discrimination. They want to get rid of the Arabs totally,” said Yousef Faraj, 53, from the nearby Druze village of Yanuh. “The Israelis want to destroy all the religions of the Arabs.”

    Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, called the law a bid to advance “ethnic superiority by promoting racist policies”.


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    13 Comments
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    nat101
    Member
    nat101
    5 years ago

    Reuters – the worst of the worst.

    lazy-boy
    Active Member
    lazy-boy
    5 years ago

    Apartheid? come to downtown Jerusalem and see Arabs in their traditional clothing shopping and sitting at the cafes unworried about attacks from Jews. come to Israel and see Arabs living in their villages without fences and gates with security men checking to see who comes in.

    Then go to the Arab areas dressed as a Jew and see if you can walk out alive. See if a Jew can buy a house in an Arab area. See that the Arabs will kill one of their own if he sells to a Jew.

    Want to see apartheid in Israel? Go to the Arab areas!

    5 years ago

    These Zionists have it so wrong. Jews have NO LAND Jews have a religion and a holy Torah to follow, other than that its all for naught. They follow NO Torah, observe NO mitzvas, are desecrating Hashems name with every fiber of their being and they are the ones that are claiming the right to Israel. Comical.
    The Zionists have NO self determination as they quote more than anyone else.
    Its merely a stupid body of lawless people putting forth symbolic notions. Nobody should feel stifeled by this new so called “right of self determination”. Its nothing but BS.

    triumphinwhitehouse
    triumphinwhitehouse
    5 years ago

    Can you imagine what a REAL right winger like the tzadik Kahane would do to these 5th column Arab traitors and the the problem of their continued existence in a “Jewish” state? And solve this problem Finally? Now make them swear for citizenship and recite the hatikva word for word

    AlbertEinstein
    AlbertEinstein
    5 years ago

    About time.

    5 years ago

    Does the PA or Hamas recognize Jewish rights to its statehood ?? Just wondering

    Furthermore , why would we give arabs the same rights when they want us dead ?

    SRRLD
    SRRLD
    5 years ago

    I am not a leftest but this smacks of apartheid . i grew up in long island in the 60’s where blacks were zoned out of the white neighborhoods and as a result we had almost a whole white high school while whole black communities were sandwiched in just over the train tracks and attended a different high school and voted. In different zones so as not to disturb the politics in our area. That type of separation doesnt go well today. Israel should be careful not to legalize policies which smack of apartheid.while it is an amazing privilege to be able live in Israel we are still before the messianic period .

    ALTERG4
    ALTERG4
    5 years ago

    Crazy, what will israel gain from this except jewish blood?
    Shame on israel

    takeittothem
    takeittothem
    5 years ago

    Just go to the mall in Jerusalem and dare tell me there is apartheid there. Arabs walk around there freely and as easily as Jews.
    Now try , as a Jew, to walk around the mall in Damascus.

    ALTERG4
    ALTERG4
    5 years ago

    Crazy, what will israel gain from this except jewish blood?
    Shame on israel