Editorial Desk :
Israel passed a law on Thursday to declare that only Jews have the right of self-determination in the country, something members of the Arab minority called racist and verging on apartheid. The nation-state law, backed by the right-wing government, passed by a vote of 62-55 and two abstentions in the 120-member parliament after months of political argument. Some Arab lawmakers shouted and ripped up papers after the vote.
Largely symbolic, the law was enacted just after the 70th anniversary of the birth of the state of Israel. It stipulates that “Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people and they have an exclusive right to national self-determination in it”. The bill also strips Arabic of its designation as an official language alongside Hebrew, downgrading it to a “special status” that enables its continued use within Israeli institutions. Israel’s Arabs number some 1.8 million, about 20 percent of the 9 million population.
Early drafts of the legislation went further in what critics at home and abroad saw as discrimination towards Israel’s Arabs, who have long said they are treated as second-class citizens. Clauses that were dropped in last-minute political wrangling – and after objections by Israel’s President and attorney-general – would have enshrined in law the establishment of Jewish-only communities, and instructed courts to rule according to Jewish ritual law when there were no relevant legal precedents.
Instead, a more vaguely-worded version was approved, which says: “The state views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value and will act to encourage and promote its establishment.”Even after the changes, critics said the new law will deepen a sense of alienation within the Arab minority.
Israel’s Arab population is comprised mainly of descendants of the Palestinians who remained on their land during the conflict between Arabs and Jews that culminated in the war of 1948 surrounding the creation of the modern state of Israel. Hundreds of thousands were forced to leave their homes or fled. Those who remained have full equal rights under the law but say they face constant discrimination, citing inferior services and unfair allocations for education, health and housing.
These and other similar actions of Israel are attracting condemnation all over the world. Even in Israel barely half the MPs voted for the bill, so it indicates strong opposition within the country. The Irish lower house of Parliament is about to vote on a bill which would prohibit the import and sale of goods from illegally occupied settlements in the Palestinian territories.
The Irish initiative came one month after Valencia, Spain’s third-largest city, passed a resolution to boycott the Jewish state, in the process declaring itself an “Israeli apartheid-free zone.” Thereafter, the leader of Spain’s leftist Podemos party-which in the 2015 general elections won 20 percent of the vote and whose local faction promoted the boycott motion-called Israel a “criminal country” in a televised interview.
Swedish Pro-Palestinian activist and Swedish Parliamentary Candidate for the Feminist Initiative Party Oldoz Javidi suggested in an interview that the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was for Israeli Jews to leave for the United States. So with much of the world against Israel, why does it still not care?
The answer is that it has the unequivocal support of the US and the EU. No one wants to say or do anything which will get them labelled anti-Semitic. Even Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE are indulging in realpolitik and helping Israel under the premise that the enemy of our enemy is our best friend-the enemy here being Iran.
As long as Israel has allies which hold it up economically it will never care-and the will to get Israel to reform itself simply does not exist in the US and the EU. The Muslims are too divided to be taken seriously.
Israel passed a law on Thursday to declare that only Jews have the right of self-determination in the country, something members of the Arab minority called racist and verging on apartheid. The nation-state law, backed by the right-wing government, passed by a vote of 62-55 and two abstentions in the 120-member parliament after months of political argument. Some Arab lawmakers shouted and ripped up papers after the vote.
Largely symbolic, the law was enacted just after the 70th anniversary of the birth of the state of Israel. It stipulates that “Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people and they have an exclusive right to national self-determination in it”. The bill also strips Arabic of its designation as an official language alongside Hebrew, downgrading it to a “special status” that enables its continued use within Israeli institutions. Israel’s Arabs number some 1.8 million, about 20 percent of the 9 million population.
Early drafts of the legislation went further in what critics at home and abroad saw as discrimination towards Israel’s Arabs, who have long said they are treated as second-class citizens. Clauses that were dropped in last-minute political wrangling – and after objections by Israel’s President and attorney-general – would have enshrined in law the establishment of Jewish-only communities, and instructed courts to rule according to Jewish ritual law when there were no relevant legal precedents.
Instead, a more vaguely-worded version was approved, which says: “The state views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value and will act to encourage and promote its establishment.”Even after the changes, critics said the new law will deepen a sense of alienation within the Arab minority.
Israel’s Arab population is comprised mainly of descendants of the Palestinians who remained on their land during the conflict between Arabs and Jews that culminated in the war of 1948 surrounding the creation of the modern state of Israel. Hundreds of thousands were forced to leave their homes or fled. Those who remained have full equal rights under the law but say they face constant discrimination, citing inferior services and unfair allocations for education, health and housing.
These and other similar actions of Israel are attracting condemnation all over the world. Even in Israel barely half the MPs voted for the bill, so it indicates strong opposition within the country. The Irish lower house of Parliament is about to vote on a bill which would prohibit the import and sale of goods from illegally occupied settlements in the Palestinian territories.
The Irish initiative came one month after Valencia, Spain’s third-largest city, passed a resolution to boycott the Jewish state, in the process declaring itself an “Israeli apartheid-free zone.” Thereafter, the leader of Spain’s leftist Podemos party-which in the 2015 general elections won 20 percent of the vote and whose local faction promoted the boycott motion-called Israel a “criminal country” in a televised interview.
Swedish Pro-Palestinian activist and Swedish Parliamentary Candidate for the Feminist Initiative Party Oldoz Javidi suggested in an interview that the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was for Israeli Jews to leave for the United States. So with much of the world against Israel, why does it still not care?
The answer is that it has the unequivocal support of the US and the EU. No one wants to say or do anything which will get them labelled anti-Semitic. Even Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE are indulging in realpolitik and helping Israel under the premise that the enemy of our enemy is our best friend-the enemy here being Iran.
As long as Israel has allies which hold it up economically it will never care-and the will to get Israel to reform itself simply does not exist in the US and the EU. The Muslims are too divided to be taken seriously.
