What Does Israel’s New Controversial ‘Jewish Nation-state Law’ Mean?

In 1979, Egypt became the first Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with Israel under the Camp David Accord, which asked the Jewish state to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula. The Nation-State bill that Israel passed today cements Israel as an apartheid state-from the West Bank to Gaza to Jerusalem to Haifa.

Largely symbolic, the law was enacted just after the 70th anniversary of the “birth of Israel”.

By emphasising Israel’s Jewish nature, it is “reducing, not directly but indirectly, its democratic nature”, Friedman said.

In that drop-down menu you will find a list of nationalities which – if one were to attempt to deduce from it how Israel defines nationality – defies all logic.

The reason for this is profound differences among different sectors of the population over what “Jewish state” is supposed to mean. “What’s good for the United Kingdom and Spain, should also be good for Israel”. Settlers see it as a tool to “liberate” the entire biblical land.

“Another part of Israeli democracy is being kicked away”, she said.

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

“The Israeli Knesset’s ratification of the Jewish-state law enshrines the racist practises against Palestinians and falls in the context of weakening the current political direction for a two-state solution”, Dr Anwar Gargash tweeted.

Most paragraphs of the law are hardly offensive. The bill also declares the Hebrew calendar as the official calendar of the state, recognizes Independence day, days of remembrance and Jewish holidays.

ESTRIN: The nation-state law downgrades the status of Arabic as an official language, though 1.5 million of Israel’s citizens are Arab. In contrast, Hebrew is made the national language.

The legislation was approved in a vote of 62 to 55 in a tumultuous session of the assembly during which Arab lawmakers slammed what they described as “Israeli racism against the [country’s] Arab minority”.

“The words equality and justice are missing in this law”, Mr Benjamin Begin complained.

Moshe Arens – a former defense minister, ambassador to the US and a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party – also criticized the bill, saying by downgrading the status of Arabic it alienating the country’s biggest minority and empowered radicals.

The sponsor of the law, Avi Dichter from Netanyahu’s Likud party, has said it aims to defend Israel’s “status as a Jewish and democratic state”.

He also called on the Palestinians and Arab countries “to stick together for the national interest to prevent the transformation of the deal of the century, which has slowed down but did not end, into a regional deal whose consequences can not be predicted”.