Israel’s Justice Minister Triggers Maelstrom: “Willing to Violate Rights for Jewish Majority”

The state of Israel’s elusive search for the correct formula to balance its existence as both “the democratic Jewish state” returned to the fore on Wednesday when Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked told a conference that, “There is place to maintain a Jewish majority even at the price of violation of rights.” Shaked also clarified that the two goals – a Jewish majority and sustaining democracy — “must be parallel and one must not outweigh the other.” The justice minister maintained that all citizens should have equal civil rights “but not equal national rights.” The discussion related to the controversial “Nation-State Law” which would declare the state of Israel to be the nation-state of the Jewish people and instruct judges and justices to give weight to the Jewish character of the country when deciding laws.