Another newsworthy item that occurred while the World Cup was going on, and which I only wrote partially about until now, was regarding a sweeping new law was passed in Israel, just before the Knesset, Israel's version of Congress or Parliament, when into summer recess. This new law is called The Basic Law, and it effectively establishes Israel as primarily a Jewish state, with all the implications that such recognition entails. The Hebrew language receives preferential treatment as the official language, essentially giving it a status and recognition denied to Arabic. Prior to the passage of this law, Arabic had been recognized as an official language on equal terms with Hebrew, but that is scrapped with this law. The right to national self-determination is seen as "unique to the Jewish people," which seems another way of excluding anyone else, particularly any Muslims or Christians living in the country., and Israel is to be regarded as "the national home of the Jewish people." Jerusalem is recognized as "complete and united... capital of Israel," which clearly will upset many Palestinians who feel that Jerusalem should, at least in part, belong to them. The law also promotes the significance of the "development of Jewish settlement as a national value." This is a particularly divisive issue, as it remains unclear just what or where this law will apply. Some take it as encouraging the Jewish settlement of land previously recognized as Palestinian, which clearly denies the possibility of a Palestinian state, and effectively encourages the lands still now regarded as belonging to Palestine to be absorbed into a larger Israel.
Israel's prime minister praised the bill's passage as a "defining moment". Benjamin Netanyahu said:
"A hundred and twenty-two years after [the founder of modern Zionism Theodore] Herzl made his vision known, with this law we determined the founding principle of our existence.
"Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people, and respects the rights of all of its citizens."
Netanyahu praised the new bill's passage in other ways, as well:
“This is a defining moment in the annals of Zionism and the annals of the state of Israel.”
“We have determined in law the founding principle of our existence. Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people, and respects the rights of all of its citizens.”
There were some critics of the law, both to the left and to the right. On the right, among people who generally supported the law, there was a feeling that much of the law had been watered down to assure that it would pass into law.
David M. Halbfinger and Isabel Kershner of the New York Times wrote in their article about this new Israeli law:
Another highly divisive clause in the draft version, which experts said would have opened the door to legalized segregation, was replaced by one declaring “the development of Jewish settlement as a national value” and promising “to encourage and promote its establishment and consolidation.”
Netanyahu still feels it is a victory, and that it makes Israel a Jewish state officially at a time when Palestinians have a much higher birth rate, which alarms many Jews within the country. This, they feel, will be beneficial to the country, and their place in it.
Arab MP's, however, were considerably less enthusiastic about the new law, reacting with clear anger and outrage. One ripped up the new bill, and another waved a black flag. Many likened the new bill to positioning Israel as a de facto apartheid state, a charge that has become increasingly common among opponents of Netanyahu and the situation in Israel today. Netanyahu is the nation's most right-wing president in it's history, which stretches back to 1948 which, incidentally, was the year that apartheid came to be the law of the land in South Africa. Netanyahu seems to be feeling empowered to take these kinds of bold steps during this era of Trump, following several indicators of a more friendly, pro-Israel and especially pro-Netanyahu administration than Israel has ever seen or enjoyed before.
David M. Halbfinger and Isabel Kershner of the New York Times wrote that this new boldness on the part of Netanyahu and his Likud party:
"It has sought to exercise more control over the news media, erode the authority of the Supreme Court, curb the activities of left-wing advocacy groups, press ahead with moves that amount to de facto annexation of parts of the West Bank, and undermine the police by trying to thwart or minimize the effect of multiple corruption investigations against the prime minister. The police have already recommended that Mr. Netanyahu be charged with bribery in two inquiries. But none of these expressions of raw political power has carried more symbolic weight than the new basic law."
Dan Yakir, chief legal counsel for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, said that while largely only declaratory, the new law “will give rise to arguments that Jews should enjoy privileges and subsidies and rights, because of the special status that this law purports to give to the Jewish people in Israel.”
He added:
“In that regard, this is a racist law.”
Yakir also stated that "a right to equality in Israel had been derived, by interpretation of the Israeli Supreme Court, from the Basic Law on Human Dignity, but that the new law was explicit in elevating the status of Jews. “
Arab MP's, however, were considerably less enthusiastic about the new law, reacting with clear anger and outrage. One ripped up the new bill, and another waved a black flag. Many likened the new bill to positioning Israel as a de facto apartheid state, a charge that has become increasingly common among opponents of Netanyahu and the situation in Israel today. Netanyahu is the nation's most right-wing president in it's history, which stretches back to 1948 which, incidentally, was the year that apartheid came to be the law of the land in South Africa. Netanyahu seems to be feeling empowered to take these kinds of bold steps during this era of Trump, following several indicators of a more friendly, pro-Israel and especially pro-Netanyahu administration than Israel has ever seen or enjoyed before.
Amir Fuchs, an expert in legislative processes and liberal thought at The Israel Democracy Institute, an independent research group in Jerusalem. said:
“I don’t agree with those saying this is an apartheid law. It does not form two separate legal norms applying to Jews or non-Jews.”
But he added:
“Even if it is only declarative and won’t change anything in the near future, I am 100 percent sure it will worsen the feeling of non-Jews and especially the Arab minority in Israel.”
Others condemned the law in even stronger language. Ahmad Tibi, a veteran Arab legislator, described it this way on his Twitter account:
“The end of democracy. The official beginning of fascism and apartheid. A black day (another black day).”
A former Labor Party legislator, Shakeeb Shnaan, a member of Israel’s small, Arabic-speaking Druze community, sad this about the nationality law:
“The state of Israel is my country and my home, and I have given it what is most dear to me, and I continue, and I will continue, to serve it with love. The nationality law is a mark of Cain on the forehead of everyone who votes for it.”
Adalah, a legal center advocating for Arab rights in Israel, stated their view that this new law “entrenches the privileges enjoyed by Jewish citizens, while simultaneously anchoring discrimination against Palestinian citizens and legitimizing exclusion, racism, and systemic inequality.”
Many progressive Jews were also less than thrilled about this new law:
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the New York-based Union for Reform Judaism, promised:
“We will use all of the legal means available to us to challenge this new law and to promote Reform and Progressive Judaism in Israel.”
And David M. Halbfinger and Isabel Kershner of the New York Times wrote that this feeling is not merely prevalent among progressive Jews inside of Israel, either:
Many North American Jews have grown increasingly alienated from Israel over the Netanyahu government’s hawkishness and coercion by the strictly Orthodox state religious authorities. They remain angry nearly a year after Mr. Netanyahu reneged on an agreement to improve pluralistic prayer arrangements at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, once a hallowed symbol of Jewish unity, and promoted a bill enshrining the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate’s monopoly over conversions to Judaism in Israel. The new law stipulates that Hebrew is “the state’s language” and demotes Arabic to “special status,” though it is a largely symbolic sleight since a subsequent clause says, “This clause does not harm the status given to the Arabic language before this law came into effect.”
Obviously, the new law is highly controversial, with all sides expressing strong feelings about it. It seems to add to the increased political polarization that seems to be becoming a world-wide phenomenon. Many fear that it may indeed lead to some new, 21st century version of de facto apartheid in Israel. In describing the law's significance, the BBC News summed up the most significant issues regarding this law, and why it is such a huge point of division both within and outside of Israel today:
Why does it matter?
It is important because it is hugely symbolic, and according to Israel's Arab minority, evidence that Israel is downgrading their status.
Israeli Arabs, many of whom identify as or with Palestinians, comprise about 20% of the country's nine million-strong population.
They have equal rights under the law but have long complained of being treated as second-class citizens and say they face discrimination and worse provision than Israeli Jews when it comes to services such as education, health and housing.
Civil rights groups have denounced the law and some critics, including one Arab MP described it as apartheid - the state-sanctioned racial discrimination of black people during white-minority rule in South Africa.
Israel is often accused by its fiercest critics of practising a system akin to apartheid against Israeli Arabs and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Israel vehemently rejects the allegation as a smear tactic used by those who reject its very right to exist.
There are the two articles that I used in writing this blog entry about the new "common law" recently passed in Israel. All of the quotes used above were taken from the following two articles (see the attached links):
Israeli Law Declares the Country the ‘Nation-State of the Jewish People’ by David M. Halbfinger and Isabel Kershner July 19, 2018:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/world/middleeast/israel-law-jews-arabic.html
Jewish nation state: Israel approves controversial bill by BBC News, 19 July 2018:
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