The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jewish or democratic? Israel debates its founding principles
JERUSALEM — A controversial bill making its way through Israel’s parliament has sparked fierce debate over the foundations of democracy in the country and what it means to be Israeli, with critics saying it will deny equal rights to non-Jewish citizens.
On Thursday, the Israeli government edged closer to approving the so-called “nation-state bill” aimed at boosting Israel’s Jewish character. Proposed by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party and supported by much of his right-wing coalition, the bill clarifies in about a dozen points Israel’s purpose as “a national home for the Jewish people” and pinpoints its national symbols.
It could be voted into law as soon as next week.
The thrust of the proposed legislation is similar to the Declaration of Independence signed by Israel’s founders in 1948, except that the historic document also underscored the democratic values of the state, giving the country’s Arab inhabitants “equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.”
In contrast, the nationstate bill, which if approved would be a basic law with constitutional status, downgrades the status of that minority group’s language, Arabic, to a “special status,” instead of an official language alongside Hebrew. Arabic is spoken by 20 percent of the population.
The bill also includes a particularly problematic clause enabling the creation of homogenous communities based on religion and nationality.
Clause 7B has been widely condemned as anti-democratic and racist by opposition lawmakers, members of the Arab community and human rights groups. It has also drawn criticism from
some aligned with the Israeli leadership.
On Monday, President Reuven Rivlin expressed his concern about that clause in a letter to Netanyahu. The law has no balance and “could harm the Jewish people and Jews around the world and in Israel,” he said. “It could even be used by our enemies as a weapon.”
The Knesset’s legal adviser, Eyal Yinon, and representatives of the attorney general’s office have expressed similar concerns.
Speaking in the parliament on Thursday, Yousef Jabareen, an Israel Arab member of the Knesset, called the legislation an “apartheid law,” referring to the discriminatory system that once governed South Africa. He also said it was no different from the Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States after the Civil War and into the 20th century.
Roughly 75 percent of Israel’s 8.5 million population is Jewish, according to the latest figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics. Muslim and Christian Arabs make up 21 percent of the population, and other non-Jewish minority groups account for 5 percent.