Arabic no longer to be official state language
A bill which decrees that Israel is “the national home of the Jewish people” and that “the right to realize self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people’ has passed a cabinet committee and is set to become a basic law, meaning it will be equivalent to being part of Israel’s Constitution.
After passing the Minister Committee for Legislation, it will not proceed to the floor of the Knesset for further readings before becoming law. The bill is a toned-down version of an earlier bill that made democracy subordinate to the state’s Jewish character.
However the new bill does state that “the national language is Hebrew” and downgrades the status of Arabic, which was a national language, to “a special status in the state.” In addiction the bill says that “its speakers have the right to language-accessible services.”
About 20 percent of Israel’s population are Arab citizens, and they are represented by 12 Knesset members in the Joint Arab List.
Another Arab citizen of Israel, Essawi Freij, is a member of the dovish Mertz party. He told reporters that the committee’s decision “again proves that for the current government, democracy is a swear word.”
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu threw his support behind the bill, saying it “flies in the face of everyone who tries to deny our right to Israel.”
Netanyahu rejected criticism of the bill, saying “there is absolutely no contradiction between the Jewish state bill and equal rights in Israel.”
“The bill constitutes an overwhelming response to all those who deny the deep connection between the Jewish people and their land,” the prime minister said.
Netanyahu said the bill would be brought to the Knesset within 60 days and he “expects all the Zionist parties to support it.”
But criticism also came from members of Likud’s own party, including former Justice Minister Dan Meridor.
“It’s totally unnecessary and shocking,” Meridor told The Media Line. “We already have a law that says Israel is a Jewish and democratic state. We are the state of the Jewish people but we have others who are not Jewish. They are equal members in this community. We don’t have to say day and night, “It’s not yours, it’s only ours.”
Meridor said the new bill is part of an anti-democratic tendency in Israel that concerns him.
“I think you don’t need to show the other that he does not belong,” Meridor said. “We won the battle over the land, let us have the magnanimity of the victor.”
Criticism also came from Joint List chairman Ayman Odeh who called it a “declaration of war” on Israel’s Arab citizens.
“Discrimination has received a legal stamp,” Odeh said. “The danger in the law is that it establishes two classes of citizen – Jew and Arab.”
Arab citizens of Israel have long complained of institutionalized discrimination against them, in terms of funding for Arab municipalities and the quality of most of Israel’s Arab schools. Since most Arab citizens of Israel do not serve in the army, they do not get the financial benefits that Jewish veterans get, and are frozen out of jobs that require a security clearance or an army background.
Israel does not have a constitution because the founding fathers could not agree on how to refer to God in the document. Instead it has a Basic Law, which fulfills the same function. This bill is meant to become part of the Basic law.