I am all for it. This is a counterweight to all those NGO’s and the Supreme Court that want Israel to be a state of all its citizens rather than a Jewish state. I think that to say Israel has a “democratic government” is different than saying it is a “democratic state”. Being a Jewish state should trump being a democratic state. Ted Belman
Forty lawmakers from both the coalition and opposition Wednesday submitted a proposal to the Knesset for a new Basic Law that would change the accepted definition of Israel as a “Jewish and democratic state.”
The bill, initiated by MKs Avi Dichter (Kadima ), Zeev Elkin (Likud ) and David Rotem (Yisrael Beiteinu ), and supported by 20 of the 28 Kadima MKs, would make democratic rule subservient to the state’s definition as “the national home for the Jewish people.”
The legislation, a private member’s bill, won support from Labor, Atzamaut, Yisrael Beiteinu and National Union lawmakers.
Sources at the Knesset say the law currently has broad support, and they believe it will be passed during the Knesset’s winter session.
According to Elkin, the law is intended to give the courts reasoning that supports “the state as the Jewish nation state in ruling in situations in which the Jewish character of the state clashes with its democratic character.”
Elkin said: “The courts deal with this issue quite a lot, such as with the Law of Return as a discriminatory law.”
The bill redefines basic consensus regarding the character of the state. For example, it also proposes that Hebrew would be the only official language in Israel, as opposed to the present situation – based on current mandatory law, Arabic and English are also recognized as official languages.
The bill accords Arabic “special status,” and states that Arabic speakers “have the right to linguistic access to the services of the state, as determined by law.”
Jewish inspiration
Another clause states that Jewish law will be a source of inspiration to the legislature and the courts.
This would mean that MKs would be asked to legislate in the spirit of Jewish law, and courts to adjudicate by it in cases where no other express law exists. In the language of the bill:
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“If the court sees a legal question requiring a ruling, and finds no solution in legislation, custom or clear analogy, it will rule in light of the principles of freedom, justice, integrity and peace in Jewish heritage.”
The bill also calls on the state to
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“act to ingather the exiles of Israel and [further] Jewish settlement within it, and allocate resources to this end.”
As for other ethnic groups in Israel, according to the bill: “The state is permitted to allow a community, including people of another faith or nation, to maintain a separate community.”
Elkin says he is not concerned over the implications of the bill for the image of Israel internationally. “If we were talking about the world in which the United Nations equates Zionism with racism, there might be a problem. But today the world is ready to accept this,” he said.
As opposed to other Basic Laws, this one can only be changed by passing another Basic Law in its stead.
The bill was formulated on the initiative of, and jointly with, the Institute for Zionist Strategies, a conservative think tank.
Elkin and Rotem have supported a number of controversial pieces of legislation presented during the Knesset summer session. They include the successfully-passed Boycott Law, which calls for economic sanctions on people who boycott West Bank settlements; and laws restricting the activities of associations that oppose the existence of Israel and requiring political groups to reveal sources of funding they received from foreign countries.
In response, Kadima said that the proposed law is a private member’s bill submitted by MK Avi Dichter and not by a faction. Like every other bill, this one will also be discussed by the faction, which will then decide its position on it.
I am all for this.
I do hope that it is inclusive of Orthodox as well as Conservative Jews and Reformed Jews.
Am Yisrael Chai.
Thank you, Shy Guy.
Bruce O’Hara Said:
“Yih’chee Yisra’el”
Of course, theree is little doubt that Israel is Jewish and shall remain etrnally so. It is hashem’s will
How would you say, “Long Live Israel”, in Hebrew?
Actually the word you want here for “nation,” Arnold, in reference to Israel, is am — not ‘goy.’
Goyim is more generally understood to represent a collective designation for “the world” in which the Jews find themselves. As for example: when the people came to the prophet Samuel (last of the Judges), and asked him for a king, it was so that they might be like everybody else: “so that we may be like the nations/goyim.” They were antsy about being forever ‘different.’
The nation of Israel is Am Yisrael.
Israel rightly should be the state of the Jewish nation, for the same reason that Christianity dominates my country, the United States of America. I have no particular problem living here as a member of a national non-Christian minority. And anybody who is not Jewish and is not prepared to join the Jewish nation through conversion and assimilation, but wishes to take up residence in Israel should readily accept the same kind of limitation.
As you all can see, I am interested neither in democracy nor hypocrisy.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
It sounds perfectly reasonable, and also necessary for the continued survival of the nation as, I believe, she was intended to be by G-d.
The hyenas of the Left will howl, but you can gauge how correct an action is by the loudness of their howls.
As for the worlds opinion. It’s nice if the majority approve, but like any other nation, Israels decisions must be based on what’s best for Israel…not what the world thinks is best for Israel.
Good for the Israelis and Jews worldwide.
The world certainly has no problem with the myriad of islamic sharia states. So the nations of the world had better keep their mouths shut and not interfere in Israel’s internal affairs, lest they once again expose their hypocrisy regarding the Jewish state.
Hi Arnold,
Jews don’t think of themselves as ‘goi echad’. As you say, religion plays a minor role in your life but it does not mean you can redefine it ‘for a practical frame of reference’. ‘Nations’ are the non-Jews or the gentiles. See Zechariah 8:23 where this is expressly revealed by HaShem. Also Jews are to be a ‘Light Unto the NATIONS’, not a light unto themselves, otherwise this statement would make no sense; and if nothing else Judaism is VERY RATIONAL unlike other religions; for what else could it be other than rational since the Torah was given by the ULTIMATE RATIONAL BEING.
Put together an appropriate constitution appropriate to serve as the fundamental basis for the legal codes of a modern but definitively Jewish state.
And yes, I agree that Tora should provide much of that basis. About Talmud I have less interest. Most of you know by now that religion plays only a minor role in my life. But I consider it a useful tool for bonding a nation. In Israel even more so than in America.
Then, as soon as a constitution is established, use the powers of the Knesset of the state to reform the way members of the Bagatz are appointed.
In less time than you would expect, you will have an authentic Jewish state, whose Jewish populace will grow to respect themselves, their national culture, and stay independent of the other goyim. Why “goyim”. Because the Hebrew word simply means “nation”. We may think of ourselves as “goi echad”, but for practical frame of reference, we truly are just one nation among many.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
This sounds very positive to me. The Torah and the rabbis have developed an extensive body of Judaic law that is more sensible and more compassionate than secular law in many other countries. It would also require that judges should be people of religious faith and knowledge who would render decisions that are free from politics as they often are today.
I applaud the effort. We’ll see if the bagatz lets it stand – I doubt they will. Then it will be time to do something about the makeup of the bagatz.
This proposed new chapter to Israel’s constitution in progress would do three things: it would entrench Israel’s Jewish character into the Basic Law of the State, it would define Israel as a Hebrew-speaking state and it would make Jewish law the basic source of the laws of the state – paralleling the adoption of Sharia in Islamic countries as the basic source of the laws of the state. It would prevent Israel from being changed into a “state of all its citizens.” As an enactment, it is one necessary and long overdue.