Canada\u2019s identity has evolved dramatically since the Second World War. First, the country\u2019s self-image changed from an Anglo orientation as a member of the British Empire-cum-Commonwealth to a concept of \u201ctwo founding nations,\u201d which included the recognition of bilingualism and biculturalism as pillars of our identity. No sooner had that change been digested than we broadened the definition of Canadianness to incorporate multiculturalism and then, very belatedly, we have recently come to recognize the important place of indigenous Canadians and to attempt to reconcile our peoples with the history of injustice and cultural genocide perpetrated against First Nations.<\/p>\n
Not all countries are given to this sort of evolving self-identity. Israel, in very different ways but over the same period, has struggled to define itself in a manner that reflects both its founding premise and its demographic and cultural realities. For several decades, the country has debated the question \u201cwho is a Jew?\u201d; a riddle that goes to the heart of the nation\u2019s identity in part due to the Law of Return, which grants citizenship to any Jew. But the place of non-Jewish citizens \u2013 both in the state of Israel and, more problematically, in the territories occupied in 1967 \u2013 has confounded the country as it struggles to be both a democratic country and one particularly founded as the homeland of the Jewish people.<\/p>\n
This matter was brought to a head (again) recently by a law passed by the Knesset dealing with the country\u2019s Jewish identity.<\/p>\n
In practical terms, the \u201cnation-state law\u201d has little impact. If an Israeli didn\u2019t follow the news, they would probably not notice any change in their daily life. The law is mostly symbolic. It enshrines the Jewish calendar as official, declares Jerusalem the country\u2019s capital, codifies what was already the practical reality in terms of Jewish iconography in Israeli national symbols, such as the Star of David on the flag and the menorah on the national shield. But, it also explicitly downgrades the Arabic language, mother tongue of 22% of the country\u2019s population, from official language to one with a \u201cspecial status.\u201d That doesn\u2019t mean that Arabic (or English) will be erased from street signs or other official places, but it is a calculated poke in the eye to the country\u2019s largest minority population \u2013 people who have struggled for decades to adapt themselves to their status as non-Jewish citizens of the Jewish state.<\/p>\n
Critics, particularly on the left, have condemned the law as the triumph of Jewishness over democracy in the continuing struggle over the country\u2019s identity as a Jewish and democratic state. Some claim that the accusation of \u201capartheid\u201d has now been proven and codified. Competing New York Times<\/em> op-eds by Ronald Lauder, head of World Jewish Congress, and Naftali Bennett, Israel\u2019s minister of Diaspora affairs, took diametrically opposing positions on the law.<\/p>\n The law\u2019s enemies perhaps did themselves no favours during a mass rally in Tel Aviv nearly two weeks ago, when Palestinian flags were prevalent and some participants seemed to be promoting a one-state resolution.<\/p>\n The controversy is the culmination of several years of debate over the law, or variations on the theme. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu defended the final bill, which passed the Knesset overwhelmingly.<\/p>\n \u201cWe enshrined in law the basic principle of our existence,\u201d he said. \u201cIsrael is the nation state of the Jewish people, that respects the individual rights of all its citizens. This is our state \u2013 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.\u201d<\/p>\n The prime minister\u2019s words are accurate enough. He acknowledges the fundamental and perhaps irreconcilable tug between \u201cthe nation state of the Jewish people\u201d and one that \u201crespects the individual rights of all its citizens.\u201d And he is correct that the law enshrines what was already the de facto reality.<\/p>\n He is also not far off the mark in stating that some have tried to put in doubt Israel\u2019s identity as a Jewish state \u2013 there are calls in the Middle East and elsewhere for a unitary state between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, a concept that would effectively eliminate Jewish national self-determination. Yet, this is perhaps the most specious of Netanyahu\u2019s arguments. Yes, there are those would see the Jewish state destroyed. But these voices are no more mainstream nor prevalent than they have been in recent years.<\/p>\n The law is red meat for Netanyahu\u2019s core supporters and those to their right. It is a provocation \u2013 and an unnecessary one \u2013 that even the prime minister claims has no real, practical impact.<\/p>\n However, it does have an impact \u2013 and one that is perhaps not unintended. The law makes non-Jewish citizens of Israel feel isolated and demoralized and it strengthens the case of those inside and outside Israel who condemn the country for inequality and favouritism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Canada\u2019s identity has evolved dramatically since the Second World War. First, the country\u2019s self-image changed from an Anglo orientation as a member of the British Empire-cum-Commonwealth to a concept of \u201ctwo founding nations,\u201d which included the recognition of bilingualism and biculturalism as pillars of our identity. No sooner had that change been digested than we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[4330,2251],"class_list":["post-29771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-ji","tag-israel","tag-law"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29771\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}