Ramallah: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing ahead with his plan to revise the so-called Jewish State Law despite it being blocked in a ministerial committee meeting amid warnings that its blocking could lead to a collapse of the regime’s government.
The committee vote on Netanyahu’s draft bill was opposed by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who has her own preferred version of the new law.
The regime’s prime minister is planning to circumvent the Ministerial Committee impasse by submitting his draft to the cabinet for approval on Sunday.
The prime minister’s bill is ostensibly being criticised by Livni because it does not commit to equality for all Israeli citizens. Netanyahu’s bill defines the Israeli regime as a “democratic state” but also declares it a “Jewish state”, which critics say excludes all non-Jewish citizens, particularly the indigenous Palestinian citizens, from national aspirations. ‘Jewish and democratic’ is a euphemism for the maintenance of Jewish supremacy in the country. Critics decry the move as racist and point out that Israel cannot be both Jewish and democratic since Jews are no longer a majority on land the regime controls. Millions of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza live under Israeli occupation but do not have the right to vote.
The regime classifies citizens by nationality, labelling ‘Arab’ and ‘Jew’ separately. ‘Arab’ citizens of Israel are the minority of Palestinians who were not driven out of their homes in 1948 by the invading Zionist forces who subsequently set up a Jewish state in Palestine. They lived under military rule for almost two decades.
Netanyahu’s bill would become a Basic Law if passed. Because Israel does not have a constitution, particular laws are termed Basic Laws and have constitutional status. These laws take precedence over other laws.
Netanyahu’s draft reads in part: “The right to national self-determination shall be exercised in the State of Israel only by the Jewish people. Israel is a democratic state based on freedom, justice, and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel. It upholds the personal rights of all citizens under the law.”.
The rights signalled in the last sentence are personal rather than national rights for cultural minorities in Israel.
Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, who heads the far-right Habayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home) party, has warned that failure to pass the bill will result in his party leaving the governing coalition.
“We won’t support any bill by [Yair] Lapid or Livni,” said Bennett of the impasse.
Other Knesset members remain opposed to the draft bill, with Meretz Chair Zehava Gal-On quoted on the Israeli news site Arutz Sheva as maintaining that the law makes Palestinian citizens of the regime “second-class citizens.”
