Israel has always understood itself to be a Jewish state. But for the past five years, politicians – specifically those on the right – have been pushing for legislation that would make that fact irrefutable, strengthening their ability to incorporate the country’s Jewish national and religious character into government policy. This proposed nation-state bill would be a Basic Law, which means it would have constitutional-like status. Israel’s lack of a constitution has led to the creation of a series of such “Basic Laws,” which the courts are meant to recognize as articulating the underlying principles of the state. However, due to internal wrangling over the wording of the law, the nation-state bill has enjoyed a legislative roller-coaster ride since its original conception back in 2013. >> Attorney general warns Netanyahu of international implications if Nation-State Bill Passed ■ Intervention against apartheid law casts Rivlin as gatekeeper of Israeli democracy ■ Netanyahu to make It official: Fascism is what we are Open gallery view Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated repeatedly that the passage of such a law is one of his top priorities, and is hoping to get the bill passed before the Knesset breaks for its summer recess next week. Yet he has failed to achieve a consensus among the parties in his last two coalition governments, and Habayit Hayehudi and United Torah Judaism have both raised objections to parts of the latest version. “Israel is a Jewish and democratic state, and for the sake of creating a balance and resisting those who challenge, I am determined to advance my version of the nation-state law,” Netanyahu said in 2014, as various factions battled over different versions of the bill. “Over the years, a distinct imbalance has been created between the Jewish element and the democratic one. There is an imbalance between individual rights and national rights in Israel,” he added. From the outset, human rights organizations and political figures on the left have decried the proposed law as antidemocratic, arguing that even in its mildest version, it legitimizes giving Jews and the Jewish religion preferential treatment and denying full and equal rights to the country’s non-Jewish citizens. >> Netanyahu to make it official: Fascism is what we are Its harshest critics, meanwhile, have said the law prepares the legal ground for a one-state solution and the annexation of the West Bank. In its the most recent version, figures ranging from left-wing activists to the Israeli president have joined the battle against preventing its passage in its current form. The clause that has upset them most would explicitly allow the establishment of communities that are segregated by religion or nationality, giving discrimination an official stamp of approval. The clause in the bill declares that “the state can allow a community composed of people of the same faith or nationality to maintain an exclusive community.” Open gallery view Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, December 2017. Credit: Kobi Gideon/GPO Some fear that enshrining this principle in law could not only lead to discrimination against Arabs and other non-Jews, but could also be interpreted as permitting discrimination against groups within the Jewish population. President Reuven Rivlin has slammed clause 7B, warning in a letter that it “could harm the Jewish people and Jews around the world and in Israel, and could even be used by our enemies as a weapon.” >> Intervention against apartheid law casts Rivlin as brave gatekeeper of Israeli democracy and morality The Knesset’s legal adviser, Eyal Yinon, and Deputy Attorney General Raz Nizri have both also come out against the clause, with Nizri explaining that the law would enshrine “personal discrimination against a citizen based only on his nationality.” And Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit said “there is no place for such a clause in its present form.” Eyal Zandberg from the Attorney General’s Office has said the clause “is blatant discrimination” and that “this means the residents selection committee can hang up a sign saying ‘No entry to non-Jews.’” 'Arabic was never an official language in Israel' Credit: Haaretz There are other controversial clauses in the proposed law that are also proving problematic: Hebrew will be the official language of the state, with the status of Arabic being reduced from an “official” to “special” language. Another clause would instruct judges to look for precedents from Jewish legal rulings in instances where Israeli law offers no guidance.<doc-sep>The controversial Jewish nation-state bill became Israel's 14th Basic Law early Thursday morning after it passed into law in the Knesset plenum by a vote of 62 in favor, 55 against and two abstentions.The law passed after a stormy debate full of theatrics that stretched more than eight hours.Applauding the vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the law as "a defining moment in the history of Zionism and the history of the State of Israel. "122 years after Herzl published his vision, we have stated by law the basic principle of our existence," Netanyahu said from the Knesset podium.The head of the special committee that legislated the bill, MK Amir Ohana (Likud), told the plenum it could be the most important legislation in the history of the state. He said the bill had been discussed more than any of the basic laws that have been passed before.The law's sponsor, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Avi Dichter, turned to Arab MKs in the final address before voting and told them: "We were here before you, and we will be here after you." But he said their rights as minorities would not be harmed by the law. Joint List MKs condemned the legislation . Party leader Ayman Odeh waved a black flag on the Knesset podium and his faction colleague, MK Jamal Zahalka, ripped up the bill. "We are now seeing with shock the death of our democracy, which has been dying in recent years, and suffering from the racism that has hit a new peak with this bill," Joint List MK Ahmed Tibi said earlier in a meeting of Ohana's committee that legislated the bill and approved it by an 8 to 7 vote Wednesday morning along coalition and opposition lines.The Jewish nation-state bill is a Basic Law with constitutional heft that declares Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people. It anchors in law the state’s menorah emblem, Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, national holidays and the right of all Israeli residents to preserve their heritage without consideration of religion and nationality.The two most controversial clauses in the bill were changed.The Diaspora clause says, “The state will act in the Diaspora to maintain the connection between the state and the Jewish people.” The original version said that the connection would be maintained among “the Jewish people, wherever they are.”A clause that could have permitted one religious group to bar another from living in their community was replaced with one saying that, “The state sees developing Jewish settlement as a national interest and will take steps to encourage, advance, and implement this interest.”<doc-sep>Israel's parliament approved controversial legislation on Thursday that defines the country as the nation-state of the Jewish people, but critics warn that it marginalizes minorities. The government says the bill, passed in the early-morning hours, will merely enshrine into law Israel's existing character. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called its passage a "historic moment in the history of Zionism and the history of the state of Israel." "Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people, which honours the individual rights of all its citizens," he said. "I repeat, this is our state. The Jewish state. "Lately, there are people who are trying to destabilize this and therefore destabilize the foundations of our existence and our rights. So today we have made a law in stone. This is our country. This is our language. This is our anthem and this is our flag. Long live the state of Israel." Israel's 1948 declaration of independence defined its nature as a Jewish and democratic state, a delicate balance the country has grappled to maintain for 70 years. Opponents of the new bill say it marginalizes the country's Arab minority of around 20 per cent and downgrades Arabic language from official to "special" standing. Knesset member Oren Hazan takes a selfie with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, centre, and MP David Bitan, right of Netanyahu, after the bill's passage Thursday. (Olivier Fitoussi/Associated Press) The law passed 62-55, with two members of the Knesset abstaining. The legislation, defined as a "basic law," granting it quasi-constitutional status, will likely face a challenge at the Supreme Court. Lawmakers took turns to passionately express their views in a rowdy, hours-long debate in parliament overnight. Former PM's son abstains Ayman Odeh, head of the Arab Joint List, pulled out a black flag and waved it during his speech, warning of the implications of the law. "This is an evil law," he told lawmakers. Odeh also said "a black flag hovers over it." "Today, I will have to tell my children, along with all the children of Palestinian Arab towns ... that the state has declared that it does not want us here," Odeh said in a statement later. "It has passed a law of Jewish supremacy and told us that we will always be second-class citizens." Benny Begin, son of Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, the founder of Netanyahu's ruling Likud party, abstained from voting, warning of the party's growing disconnect from human rights. "This is not a decision I expected from the Likud leadership," Benny Begin said. Eugene Kontorovich, international law director at the Kohelet Policy Forum, a conservative Jerusalem think-tank, defended the bill, arguing it "is similar to provisions in many Western democratic constitutions, which provide for an official language and national character that reflects the majority of the population." Kontorovich dismissed the "faux outrage" against the bill as "simply another attempt to single-out the Jewish state and hold her to a double standard." American Jewish organizations also expressed their disapproval. The American Jewish Committee, a group representing the Jewish Diaspora, said it was "deeply disappointed," and the law "puts at risk the commitment of Israel's founders to build a country that is both Jewish and democratic." Jeremy Ben Ami, president of J Street, a Washington liberal pro-Israel group, said the bill's purpose is "to send a message to the Arab community, the LGBT community and other minorities in Israel, that they are not and never will be equal citizens." "Strong connection between Israel and Jews worldwide is based on these values that Israel is both a Jewish and democratic state," Ben Ami said, adding concerns the bill would "weaken the strength of Israel's democracy." Lawmakers had removed the most contentious clause of the bill on Sunday that would have allowed the establishment of "separate communities" and that critics had called racist. Israelis, including President Reuven Rivlin, voiced opposition to the earlier draft of the bill. Israelis opposed to the bill, deeming it discriminatory, took to the streets to protest in large numbers on Saturday in Tel Aviv. The European Union said Thursday it was concerned about the new law, which it said would complicate a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. "We are concerned, we have expressed this concern and we will continue to engage with Israeli authorities in this context," a spokesperson for EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini told a news briefing. "We've been very clear when it comes to the two-state solution. We believe it is the only way forward and any step that would further complicate or prevent this solution of becoming a reality should be avoided."<doc-sep>cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); }); if(window.location.pathname.indexOf("656089") != -1){console.log("hedva connatix");document.getElementsByClassName("divConnatix")[0].style.display ="none";} Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summoned European Union Ambassador Emanuele Giaufret to be reprimanded, following a Channel 2 report that he had called MKs to warn them of the ramifications of the government’s flagship legislation: the J ewish nation-state bill. “As if it is not enough that the EU funds organizations that undermine Israel and illegal construction, now it is also interfering in Israeli legislation,” the prime minister said. “They apparently do not understand that Israel is a sovereign state.”The summons is part of increasing tension between Israel and the EU, which has been pressuring the country not to demolish the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar.Congressmen have also complained about the bill to Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, and asked him to relay their concerns to Netanyahu, sources among the US Jewish leadership revealed to The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.The congressmen are concerned about clauses in the bill that could enable Jewish communities to prevent Arabs from living there, remove Arabic from being an official language of Israel, as well as a clause that could potentially harm Diaspora Jews in Israel.Jewish Federations of North America president Jerry Silverman intends to arrive on Sunday to personally lobby Netanyahu and other officials against the bill. The head of the committee legislating the bill, MK Amir Ohana (Likud), rejected a request by the Jewish Agency to allow Silverman to speak to the committee against the legislation.Agency chairman Natan Sharansky wrote Ohana expressing concern about a front-page Post report about a deal the Likud made with United Torah Judaism that changed the clause in the bill about the Diaspora.The old version of the bill said “the state will take action to maintain the connection between the state and the Jewish people wherever they are.” The new version replaced “wherever they are” with “in the Diaspora.” UTJ MKs said they requested the change, because they did not want the state to help Diaspora Jews advance religious pluralism in Israel in general and at the Western Wall in particular.Sharansky’s request led to a speech to the committee by Jewish Agency secretary-general Josh Schwartz, who warned that there would be negative ramifications to the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora if the bill is not changed back to its original wording“We are getting a lot of complaints, especially about that clause,” Schwartz told the MKs. “It takes Israel out of the places where it is responsible for Diaspora Jews. Do Israelis not need to know about Diaspora Jewry? Do they not need to recognize them and be welcoming to them?”Schwartz said changing the clause sent the wrong message to American Jews who advocate on behalf of Israel. He warned that the bill “gives ammunition to the BDS campaign against Israel,” citing information obtained that BDS activists are preparing to use the bill against Israel immediately when it passes.Zionist Union MKs Revital Swid and Yael Cohen-Paran backed up Schwartz, with Swid saying: “The bill would divorce Diaspora Jews and people deemed not Jewish enough by Orthodox extremists.” Cohen-Paran called the bill “a nail in the coffin of Israel’s relationship with US Jews.”Swid is modern Orthodox, while Cohen-Paran is active in a Conservative synagogue.Bayit Yehudi MK Bezalel Smotrich defended the Diaspora clause, warning that in its original format, the bill could have enabled the Supreme Court to say Israel would need to evacuate Judea and Samaria if US Jews supported such a move, due to the need to maintain the connection with Diaspora Jewry.Smotrich and other MKs expressed outrage at a comparison Yesh Atid MK Yael German made between the bill and the Holocaust when she said: “The lesson of the Holocaust is not to be silent in the face of injustice.”The bill's sponsor, Likud MK Avi Dichter, responded: “It's a horrible mistake for anyone to say that, especially an MK. If that was said in Poland, it would be called antisemitic.”<doc-sep>
cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); }); if(window.location.pathname.indexOf("656089") != -1){console.log("hedva connatix");document.getElementsByClassName("divConnatix")[0].style.display ="none";} Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu succeeded in passing the controversial Jewish Nation-State law Thursday and immediately received a cold shower in criticism from American Jewish organizations, the European Union, and non-Jewish Israeli diplomats around the world.The Jewish Nation-State Law became Israel’s 15th Basic Law after it passed into law in the Knesset plenum by a vote of 62 in favor, 55 against and two abstentions from MKs Bennie Begin and Orli Levy-Abecasis.Following a stormy debate full of theatrics that stretched more than eight hours and voting that lasted three hours, Netanyahu applauded the vote’s passage, describing it as “a defining moment in the history of Zionism and the history of the State of Israel.”Speaking from the Knesset podium, Netanyahu declared, “122 years after Herzl published his vision, we have stated by law the basic principle of our existence.”But then came the flood of criticism. The European Union said the law could harm prospects of a two-state solution.“We are concerned. We have expressed this concern and we will continue to engage with Israeli authorities in this context,” a spokeswoman for EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini told a news briefing. “We’ve been very clear when it comes to the two-state solution. We believe it is the only way forward, and any step that would further complicate or prevent this solution of becoming a reality should be avoided.”A group of non-Jewish Israeli diplomats and several US Jewish groups said the bill would make it harder to explain Israel around the world. The non-Jewish diplomats told Channel 1 they felt particularly disenfranchised and disheartened by the law.The Anti-Defamation League said it had warned Netanyahu that “elements in the bill that could undermine Israel’s cherished democratic character, exacerbate relations between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs as well as those between Israel and Diaspora Jews, and indeed, impair Israel’s international reputation.”The organization said there were problematic elements in the law that might lead some to question Israel’s commitment to pluralism. It singled out the bill’s clause about Arabic being a special rather than an official language, and its Diaspora clause that says that Israel will act to preserve the bond between the State and the Jewish people abroad but not in Israel.“Now that this law has been passed by the Knesset, the State of Israel has an obligation to ensure that, in practice, this Basic Law is not used to discriminate against minorities, particularly its Arab citizens, and that the state maintains its commitment to improve relations between Jews in Israel and those around the world,” said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt and Israel director Carole Nuriel.The American Jewish Committee said it was “deeply disappointed” by the bill’s passage, complaining specifically about the Arabic clause and another that says that “the state views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value and will act to encourage and promote its establishment and consolidation,” which the organization said could be read as a euphemism for the originally proposed endorsement of support for Jewish-only communities in Israel.“We respectfully ask the government of Israel to clarify these and other questionable elements of the bill, and to reaffirm the core principles and values that make up the very foundation of Israel’s vibrant and admired democracy,” the AJC said.Response to the controversial Jewish Nation-State law was not universally negative.The National Council of Young Israel praised the law’s passage, especially its clauses about united Jerusalem being Israel’s capital, its promotion of Jewish settlement, and its mandate that the Jewish Sabbath and holy days are statutory days of rest in Israel.“While the democratic State of Israel facilitates freedom of religion and affords people of various backgrounds the right to visit and reside there, the reality is that Israel is inherently a Jewish state and affirming that fact does not contravene the liberties that it benevolently bestows to individuals of other faiths,” the organization said. “Passage of this bill was vital to ensure the continuity of the connection between the Jewish people and the State of Israel, and publicly pronouncing that Israel is the Nation State of the Jewish people is an essential legislative act that is long overdue.”