Prime Minister demands that bill defining Israel as a Jewish State pass final reading before end of Knesset’s summer session.
By Zvi Lev, INN
Prime Minister ordered coalition party heads to fast-track a bill defining Israel as a Jewish State in order to enable it to pass its final reading before the end of the Knesset’s summer session.
Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, who has been tasked by Netanyahu to ensure the bill’s passage, said that he will find a formula acceptable to all the various governing parties and to have the final draft ready to be voted on by the Knesset by next week.
“The Nationality law is one of the most important laws ever dealt with by the Knesset. It expresses the deepest foundations of Zionism and the foundations upon which the State of Israel was built,” said Levin.
The Knesset had approved the bill’s first reading back in 2017 despite opposition from the Kulanu faction, which demanded that an amendment instructing courts to rule according to Jewish civil law in issues which Israeli law does not address be removed from the final version.
While Israel self-identifies as a Jewish State, it’s Jewish character has never been anchored into law. The bill enshrines the status of the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people and the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in its homeland as a unique right for the Jewish people, the symbols of the state, Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and the Hebrew language as the official language.
In addition, the proposal anchors Israel’s connection with Diaspora Jewry, and establishes the Hebrew calendar as the state’s official calendar and the commemoration of Israel’s Independence Day, the Jewish holidays, and the days of remembrance in the Basic Law.
The Israeli government has been attempting to pass the ‘Nationality Law’ for years. In 2015, Prime Minister Netanyahu shelved a similar iteration of the bill after then-Justice Minister Livni vehemently opposed the bill and threatened a coalition crisis.
What is so unusual in this? Other nationals can live in Israel, but this is a Jewish country. Until recently all Russian passports contained “nationality”. If you prove to be a Russian living in another state, it’s enough for applying for a citizenship. Russia is a country of Russians. Japan is a good example. If someone not Jewish wants to become a Jew, he can go for it. If he does not like the character of Jewish Israel, he is free to leave. Very simple. It is a Jewish homeland and the whole damn world must know it. It is very easy to forget, and our enemies are doing their best to make it happen…
@ Michael S:
Israel is a nation-state just like Japan. Japan is a democracy but for things like immigration it is very difficult to immigrate into Japan. Israel is the Nation State of the Jewish People with full civil rights for minorities. The law is to define what compromises this. I think more than Jews having two views on this the minorities (even the Loyal ones) may in many cases (not all) resent the law.
Israel is a unique nation just like the Jewish people are a unique people as sovereigns in our own country we can define how it fits here and not concern ourselves whether this works in France or Germany.
The Swiss have a very complicated nationality and citizenship law, that is unique to Switzerland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_nationality_law
@ Bear Klein:
Hi, Bear.
The law seems like a unique experiment among Western democracies. Imagine the French having such a law. It would open a Pandorra’s box of questions about “Who is French? Is it a French-speaker? A Roman Catholic? An ethnic European? A snail-eater? One who lets his dog’s poop lie on the sidewalk?”
I imagine every Jew has two opinions about this proposed law.
@ Michael S:
According to Avi Dichter the author of the Law,
“The bill enshrines the status of the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people and the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in its homeland as a unique right for the Jewish people,”
What implications does this bill have, for the citizenship status and civil rights of “non-Jews?” If anyone here can spell this out for me, I would appreciate it.