A proposed \u201cJewish state bill\u201d may be up for a Knesset vote next week. An amalgamation of previous drafts, the bill would, among other things, enshrine in Basic Law Israel\u2019s Jewish identity, reserve the right of national self-determination to Jews only, institutionalize Jewish law as the basis for Israeli law, and de-list Arabic as an official language, relegating it to \u201cspecial status.\u201d<\/p>\n
Passed by a 14-6 majority of cabinet ministers on Sunday, the bill \u2013 which includes some 14 principles \u2013 still requires Knesset approval. With Yesh Atid and Hatnua threatening to leave the coalition government in reaction to the proposal, the Knesset vote was postponed until the middle of next week, at least.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe vote set off a stormy cabinet session in which two of his most centrist coalition partners voted against the proposed bill and voiced fierce opposition, claiming that at this sensitive juncture it would likely just escalate tensions,\u201d reported CBC.<\/p>\n
President Reuven Rivlin is against the bill, saying it undermines the country\u2019s Jewish character and calls into question the success of Zionism. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein also has come out against the bill, writing a legal opinion that was published in Hebrew on Walla, indicating, according to various news reports, that the planned proposal features \u201csignificant changes in the founding principles of constitutional law as anchored in the Declaration of Independence and in the basic laws of the Knesset, which can flatten the democratic character of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite these and many other criticisms and concerns expressed within Israel by Israelis, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said he is determined to pass the bill, \u201cwith or without consensus.\u201d He confusingly added, \u201cI don\u2019t know a country that is more democratic, or a more vibrant democracy than Israel in the world, certainly not in our region.\u201d Yet this point of pride would no longer exist if the bill passed.<\/p>\n
Outside of the country, the United States State Department cautioned that Israel should \u201cstick to its democratic principles.\u201d This warning was roundly rejected by Jewish Home party MK and Economic Minister Naftali Bennett, who reportedly said, \u201cWe will manage the affairs of the state of Israel. We have to deal with the ramifications of what sort of state we want. In the end, this is our problem, an internal problem, and I don\u2019t think anyone has the right to wade into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just what kind of state this bill is proposing is not clear. Not to wade into it too deeply but we find ourselves agreeing with the U.S. State Department and the Anti-Defamation League\u2019s Abe Foxman, who made a statement about how \u201cwell-meaning\u201d (we\u2019re not sure about that) and \u201cunnecessary\u201d the bill is, the latter being an opinion expressed by many of those that lean to the right in Israel. We even find ourselves agreeing, at first blush, with those on the left in Israel who are calling the bill racist.<\/p>\n
In his Nov. 25 Haaretz<\/em> column, Bradley Burston writes, \u201cListen to the words of Mahmoud Seif, uncle of sergeant-major Zidan Nahad Seif, the Druze Arab Israeli policeman slain \u2026 as he fought to stop the terrorist murder of Jews at prayer in a Jerusalem synagogue\u2026. \u2018The \u201cnation-state law,\u201d is saying, in other words: \u201cOnly the Jews should remain here.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018What about the Druze? What about the many, many Arabs who are loyal to the country?\u2019 he asked on Army Radio this week.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018What are they going to do now? This is a law for Jews only.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Twenty percent of Israel\u2019s population \u2013 one in five \u2013 is not Jewish.<\/p>\n All logic, all compassion, all pragmatism \u2013 everything! \u2013 cries out against this bill. Please, Knesset, vote it down.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A proposed \u201cJewish state bill\u201d may be up for a Knesset vote next week. An amalgamation of previous drafts, the bill would, among other things, enshrine in Basic Law Israel\u2019s Jewish identity, reserve the right of national self-determination to Jews only, institutionalize Jewish law as the basis for Israeli law, and de-list Arabic as an […]<\/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":[4341,2582,4330,2533,2581,206,1321],"class_list":["post-9457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-ji","tag-binyamin-netanyahu","tag-bradley-burston","tag-israel","tag-knesset","tag-mahmoud-seif","tag-naftali-bennett","tag-reuven-rivlin"],"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\/9457","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=9457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9457\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}