Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset, approved the controversial nationality bill on July 19 declaring Israel a nation-state for the Jewish people and downgrading the status of Arabic from official language to “special status”, TeleSUR English reported. Arabs make up 21% of Israel’s population.
The basic law, approved with 62 votes in favour and 55 against, recognises the Jewish people in Israel “have an exclusive right to national self-determination”. It also includes the declaration of a “united Jerusalem” as the capital of Israel, despite the fact that East Jerusalem is internationally recognised as being under Israeli occupation.
Furthermore, the law affirms “the state sees the development of Jewish settlement as a national value and will act to encourage and promote its establishment and consolidation”.
Legislator Avi Dichter of the ruling Likud party, who also sponsored the bill, explained: “We are enshrining this important bill into a law today to prevent even the slightest thought, let alone attempt, to transform Israel to a country of all its citizens.”
Arab lawmakers protested the bill’s approval said it codified apartheid, ripping it up in a symbolic gesture that prompted Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein to remove them from the plenum.
Read the article in Green Left Weekly.