Israel’s new nation-state law

With the recent death of former congressman and Oakland mayor Ron Dellums we are reminded of his role as a leader in the peace movement and in the campaign to end U.S. support for Apartheid South Africa. Connecticut and the African American population of our state also took a leading role in combatting this form of institutionalized discrimination against the indigenous South African population by divesting state funds from companies that did business with Apartheid institutions and boycotting them. The global movement to end Apartheid succeeded. While many disparities remain, all South Africans gained their liberty.

Our own country was born with a Constitution that formalized white supremacy and racism: African and Native American slaves had no more rights than a horse or a shack. The U.S. Civil War and the 14th Amendment ended slavery. But even though legislation has improved equal rights, serious discrimination still continues in housing, education, jobs, respect and most importantly the right to life. While the arc of history may bend toward justice, to paraphrase Martin Luther King, Jr., it also sometimes bends backward.

Case in point is the “nation-state” law just passed by the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, that officially denies equal rights to 20 percent of the Israeli population who happen to be Palestinian. Israel’s Jewish majority is formally denying Palestinians the right to self determination, to their own language, to land, housing, education, jobs and equality, by enshrining rejection of democracy in basic law. Such discrimination is not new and has been acknowledged by Israel’s supporters.

In 2008, major U.S. Jewish organizations sent a delegation, including Jewish leaders from Greater New Haven, to examine how Palestinian citizens of Israel were treated. Looking at the human needs of the Palestinian population, they wrote “contrary to the Israeli Declaration of Independence, we learned that there is a significant amount of discrimination and neglect of the Arab community in Israel and that many members of the Arab community feel, with some substantial justification, that they are treated both officially and unofficially as second-class citizens. Most importantly, much of the treatment of the Arab citizens can be directly attributed to official government policy.”

Palestinians, of course, have known since 1948 that they were second-class citizens. What has changed is that Israel’s anti-democratic policies are now constitutional and visible to all the world. On August 19, residents of Greater New Haven can hear Aida Touma-Sliman, a Palestinian member of Israel’s Knesset who will discuss what this law bodes for Palestinians under Israeli control and for the Middle East. She’ll be speaking at 2 p.m. PM at the Palestine Museum, 1674 Litchfield Turnpike (Route 69) in Woodbridge. The public is welcome. Space is limited so reservations required: free tickets at https://www.palestinemuseum.us/events/