Controversial Israeli “Nation-State” Bill Passed into Law

One of the most controversial pieces of legislation ever to come before Israel’s parliament, the so-called “Nation-State Bill,” passed Thursday morning following hours of excited and angry debate. The bill, which many from the political right wing have joined traditional opposition on the left to oppose, has been decried as “an end to Israel as a democracy.” Opponents from the right include Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin and Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit. Many believe the measure goes too far in staking out Jewish Israelis as the sole recipients of “the right to self-determination,” excluding all other ethnicities. Critics were concerned that the reduced status of Arabic from an official language to “special” status was needlessly provocative. Critics contend the bill’s expansive language would be devastating to Israel’s image and undermine its positioning as being both Jewish and democratic. But supporters argue that the two most problematic clauses were removed: the one that would have allowed Jewish-only communities and the one that required judges to refer to religious law when no precedent applied to a specific situation. Arab Israeli legislators were angrily rejecting the bill after it passed, stressing the section that declares settling in areas conquered in the 1967 war to be a “national value” that will be encouraged and promoted.