There are moments in the history of a democratic nation when its Supreme Court makes a landmark decision that shapes the lives of its citizens. One of these moments occurred in the U.S. when, at the end of the 19th century, the Supreme Court issued its “separate but equal” ruling that essentially legalized discrimination. That same court, with a different bench, rectified this historic injustice when it deemed this policy unconstitutional in what will forever be remembered as Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka.
In the same context, one can say that last week’s High Court of Justice decision to reject an appeal to overturn the Citizenship Law (which prevents Palestinians who marry Israelis from gaining Israeli citizenship) was a landmark decision, fraught with significance for Israeli society. The court ruled de jure but also de facto that the state of Israel is a Jewish state, and thus settled a years-long debate.
The naysayers’ response to the ruling was predictable, but the question remains: Was the court’s decision in fact disproportionate and unreasonable? The answer is that it was reasonable and even logical, because if the law was in fact overturned it would have allowed for the reunification of thousands of non-Jewish families, in effect reversing the Law of Return (which grants citizenship to anyone who is Jewish). The Law of Return, though not an actual Basic Law, enjoys the status of a Basic Law, as it was manifested in the recent ruling. The High Court of Justice has prevented a slippery slope that would have nullified Israel’s status as a Jewish and democratic state.
True, Israel’s citizens have a constitutional right to a family, but families can live together elsewhere in the world, especially in places where one of the non-Jewish family members is from. The justices wrote that their ruling did in fact “erode constitutional rights, including the right to equality, but the erosion is reasonable and does not violate Basic Law.” They were right. Adallah’s (The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel) argument that “the High Court of Justice failed to carry out its foremost duty of protecting the rights of minorities, during a time when most Knesset members are using their political power to undermine democracy and target the Arab minority,” is absurd. The truth is that Israel’s high court can serve as an example to other nations in its protection of minorities. The case of Adal Kaadan vs. The Land Administration of Israel (which outlawed discrimination against Arabs in the lease of private land) precisely proves this argument.
In recent years, Israel has faced not only the issue of reunification of families but also an influx of illegal immigrants. The government’s decision to combat illegal immigration, together with the recent ruling on the Citizenship Law, have redrawn the guidelines already set in Israel’s Declaration of Independence:
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“The state of Israel will be open to the immigration of Jews and for the ingathering of the exiles from all countries of their dispersion; will be based on the precepts of liberty, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; will uphold the full social and political equality of all its citizens, without distinction of race, creed or sex.”
In other words: a Jewish, democratic state.
Most Western countries require a complicated and expensive filing of visas in order to bring in a noncitizen family member. Again, Israel is being measured against a different yardstick. The international press isnt running exposees on the red tape of gaining citizenship for Switzerland or Australia or Germany. None of these countries allow for automatic citizenship by marriage nor does the US. All require tests, oaths, etc. There is significant wait time and, in many cases, one needs to revoke their previous nationality. That this internal decision even makes the papers is yet another facet of growing global anti-semitism.
Two wake -ups in one week! Fighting back. Lily
Jew-hating Israeli arab citizens in the “Jewish” State:
If I were an Israeli arab, who hated Jews and Judaism, and wanted to help destroy the Jewish state from within, I would do this:
I would work under the table, and collect unemployment payments from the Jews. I would never marry another Israeli arab, but would arrange to marry multiple arab women from the Palestinian territories, force the Jews to recognize them as citizens, have as many children as possible, and claim welfare payments from the Jews for my wives and children.
Now, does this happen? Apparently, frequently enough that Jewish Israel felt it necessary to pass a law against it. The Jew-hating Jewish Israeli leftists, in alliance with the Jew-hating Israeli arabs, tried to get the Jew-hating Israeli Supreme Court to overturn this law, which had been passed by the Jewish Israeli parliament (Knesset).
This was the hottest of hot potatoes for the Supreme Court. If they did overthrow the law, like they wanted, it would cause a civil war in Israel, between the real Jews and the Jew-hating Jews.
So the Court’s Chief Justice, who is about to retire, waited just long enough for a new Judge to take office, who had “rightist” (i.e., Jewish) values, replacing a leftist (i.e., Jew-hating) Judge. The final vote was then 6-5 in favor of maintaining the law.
The leftists in Israel are now in the minority (they are down to about 40% of Israeli Jews). But their hold on power is tenacious, and getting them to relinquish power is slow and painful. So this current Supreme Court ruling may well turn out to be be an historical landmark. The leftist effort to destroy the west bank settlement of Migron will be the next battlefront.
Any Israeli arab who hates Jews, considers Jewish Israel as illegitimate, and thinks of himself as a palestinian living under Jewish occupation, should have his citizenship revoked, and be given permanent resident status with limited benefits. The Israeli Jewish leftists are so fanatical, and so suicidal, that they allow the Jew-hating Israeli arabs to send violent Jew-hating Israeli arabs to be their representatives in the Israeli Knesset (the Orwellian leftists label this destructive insanity as “democracy”).
Netanyahu’s role in all this is as always: hold the Center, play off the Right against the Left, never do anything bold or drastic, and nudge Israel slowly more rightward.