Arab-israeli MPS condemn ‘apartheid’ law that enshrines nation state for Jews

ISRAEL’S parliament has passed a law declaring that only Jews have the right to “national self-determination” within Israel, prompting angry accusations from Arab citizens that the government is formally codifying racism.

The nation state bill passed by a narrow 62-55 margin early yesterday after hours of fractious debate between MPS in the chamber of the Knesset.

“The right to exercise national selfdetermination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people,” the new law states.

While Israel is known around the world as the only Jewish state, its own laws have never formally classified it as a state for Jews. The nation state bill describes Israel for the first time as “the national home of the Jewish people”.

The law downgrades Arabic so it is no longer an official language of Israel, and declares that Jerusalem “complete and united” is the country’s capital.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, and his Right-wing coalition government supported the bill.

Mr Netanyahu praised the law’s passage as a “pivotal moment in the annals of Zionism and the State of Israel”.

“This is our state – the Jewish state,” he said.

Around 20per cent of Israel’s citizens are of Palestinian origin, known sometimes as Palestinian citizens of Israel or as Arab-israelis. MPS who are Arab-israeli angrily denounced the bill as “an apartheid law” and tore copies of its text into pieces after it was passed.

“The state has declared that it does not want us here. It has passed a law of Jewish supremacy and told us that we will always be second-class citizens,” said Ayman Odeh, the leader of the Joint List party which is mostly Arab. The Israeli Labor Party was among those who voted against the new law.

The nation state bill will become one of Israel’s Basic Laws, the body of legislation that essentially forms the state’s constitution. The other Basic Laws describe the structure of the Israeli government but do not weigh-in on the country’s Jewish character.

The bill was significantly watered down from earlier versions and several of its most controversial provisions were changed.

One clause would have allowed Jewish towns to refuse to allow Arabs or Muslims to live in them. In practise, segregation of housing is widespread in Israel but it has never been codified in law. The housing clause was removed shortly before the vote.

The new law says Hebrew is the only official language and downgrades Arabic to “a special status in the state”.

The law does not declare Judaism the official religion of Israel.