By JNS and EJP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu celebrated the new law as “a pivotal moment in the annals of Zionism and the State of Israel.”
JERUSALEM—The Knesset, Israel’s parliament passed on Thursday a nationality law that enshrines Israel as “the national home of the Jewish people.”
The bill was approved in its second and third readings overnight, after hours of heated debate.
The law, which passed by a vote of 62-55, will be added to Israel’s Basic Laws, the underpinning of the national legal system, which is harder to repeal than regular laws.
The law calls Israel a Jewish and democratic state, and declares “Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel.”
It also makes the Jewish calendar the official calendar of Israel, and recognizes Independence Day, Jewish holidays and Shabbat as national days of rest.
Arabic, while not an official language of Israel, is given “special” status, and will still be used in a public capacity for an array of public writings and services.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu celebrated the new law as “a pivotal moment in the annals of Zionism and the State of Israel.”
“We enshrined in law the basic principle of our existence. Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people, that respects the individual rights of all its citizens,” he said. “This is our state—the Jewish state. In recent years, there have been some who have attempted to put this in doubt, to undercut the core of our being. Today, we made it law: This is our nation, language and flag.”
Uproarious debates over the legislation included Joint (Arab) List Knesset member Jamal Zahalka ascending the podium and ripping a printed copy of the bill to shreds. Fellow party member Ahmad Tibi decried the legislation as “the death of democracy.”
Though wording that would “authorize a community composed of people having the same faith and nationality to maintain the exclusive character of that community” proved too controversial to remain in the law, a new clause celebrating and supporting “Jewish settlement” as a “national value” in Israel was placed in the legislation.
The bill was sponsored by Likud MK Avi Dicther, who first proposed it in 2011. He said that it was “the sharp response to the Joint List MKs and to whoever thinks like them and that its significance is clear”.
He added: “We are passing this important Basic Law today to prevent even the slightest thought, let alone the attempt, of turning the State of Israel into a nation of all its citizens.”
Outgoing opposition leader Isaac Herzog requested to speak after the vote. He said: “The great question is whether this law will cause harm or make a contribution to the State of Israel. History will judge this and time will tell. We are truly saddened that the principle of equality, which is an inalienable asset in the defence of Israel’s good name, has vanished from this law.”
The Israeli-Jewish Congress (IJC) applauded the decision of the Knesset to pass the ‘Nation-State’ law, which IJC President Vladimir Sloutsker called “a long overdue, yet truly historic and defining moment in the long and proud history of Zionism and the modern State of Israel.”
He added: “This law simply correct a long overdue injustice and enshrines this very basic and fundamental principle. Israel shall always remain a strong, proud and vibrant democracy, and there is nothing in this law that will diminish that.’’
‘’At a time when there are many who seek to undermine and attack the very notion of Jewish self-determination, as expressed in the land of Israel being the ancestral and historical national homeland of the Jewish people, there has never been a greater sense of urgency in enshrining this very fundamental principle in Basic Law.’’
One clause of the law downgrades the Arabic language from official to “special” standing. Despite the text cryptically stating that provision “does not harm the status given to the Arabic language before this law came into effect,” one US Jewish group cast that clause as ‘’harmful.’’
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) said in a statement that it was “deeply disappointed” in the legislation, and cited that section of the bill as a key reason why.
The Jewish advocacy group said that change “not only directly affects the 21 percent of Israel’s citizens who comprise the country’s largest minority, but it also would appear to work against the government’s ongoing efforts to encourage the use of Arabic, given Israel’s location in the Middle East.”
It also bemoaned another clause that says Israel views Jewish settlement as a national value, which AJC said can be seen as a “euphemism for the originally proposed endorsement of support for Jewish-only communities in Israel.”