Enshrining Discrimination: Israel's Nation-State Law

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Ben-Youssef ◽  
Sandra Samaan Tamari
Keyword(s):  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
Nation State ◽  
State Law ◽  
Institutionalized Racism ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
Historical Justice ◽  
History Of ◽  
Promising Avenue

In July 2018, the Israeli Knesset passed Basic Law: Israel – The Nation-State of the Jewish People (Nation-State Law). This article highlights three of the law's central premises: the entrenched supremacy of Jewish settlers; the erasure of indigenous Palestinians; and, with reference to borders, the effective annexation of those parts of historic Palestine that were occupied in 1967. The authors reflect on the passage of the law within a broader history of settler colonialism and in the current global context of growing authoritarianism and overt institutionalized racism. The passage of such a colonial piece of constitutional legislation in 2018 is a testament to the continued resistance of Palestinians and the growing movement for Palestinian rights. The authors argue that the alternative to the exclusionary Nation-State Law, a rights-based, people-centered framework, is a promising avenue to not only secure Palestinian rights, but also advance a universal struggle for equality and historical justice.

The Jewish Nation-State Law

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hassan Jabareen ◽  
Suhad Bishara
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
State Law ◽  
Green Line ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
The Status ◽  
Occupied Territories

This analysis explores the origins and constitutional implications of Basic Law: Israel – The Nation State of the Jewish People (hereafter the Jewish Nation-State Law), enacted by the Israeli Knesset in July 2018. It examines the antecedents of the legislation in Israeli jurisprudence and argues that most of the law's provisions are the product of precedents established by Israel's Supreme Court, specifically the court's rulings delivered post-Oslo. The authors contend that the “two states for two peoples” vision of so-called liberal Zionists paved the way for Israel's right-wing politicians to introduce this law. Their analysis holds that the law is radical in nature: far from being a mere continuation of the status quo, it confers unprecedented constitutional status on ordinary policies and destabilizes the prevailing legal distinction between the area within the Green Line and the 1967 occupied territories.

Basic Law: Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Alon Harel
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
The State ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
History Of ◽  
Universal Values ◽  
Constitutional Evolution

Abstract Basic Law: Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People declares that Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people. It also includes several symbolic and operative provisions which are designed to strengthen the Jewish character of the state. The Basic Law purports to legally define and entrench the particular rather than universal values of Israel—the values that distinguish Israel from other nations rather than those that are shared by other nations. It anchors the Jewish identity of the state in its formal constitutional structure. My aim in this article is to present the history of the constitutional evolution of Israel and then to describe the conservative reactions to the constitutional liberalization of Israel. Then, I turn to examine the Basic Law, its provisions, and the arguments of advocates and opponents. Last, I evaluate its impact on the Israeli legal system. I shall argue that the Basic Law is part of a systematic attack on democratic liberties in Israel that may eventually transform Israel from a liberal democracy to an authoritarian democracy.

Forging New Futures for the Study of Religion in Canada: A Review of Hughes’s From Seminary to University

2021 ◽  
pp. 000842982110416
Author(s):  
Jennifer A Selby
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Institutional History ◽  
Convincing Argument ◽  
National Values ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Religion In Canada ◽  
Archival Work

Aaron W. Hughes’s monograph, From Seminary to University: An Institutional History of the Study of Religion in Canada, argues that, unlike other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, the study of religion in Canada is imbricated with nation-state politics. The creation of Canada’s initial seminaries post-Confederation served to establish Christianity as normative. By the 1960s, these seminaries were largely replaced with departments that aimed to promote national values of multiculturalism and diversity. In her critique, Selby commends the book’s convincing argument and impressive historical archival work, and critiques the book’s limited engagement with the politics of settler colonialism and scholarly contributions in the province of Québec.

scholarly journals lliberal Democracy: the Case of Democratic Erosion

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nation State ◽  
State Law ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
International Attention ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Law ◽  
Political Actions ◽  
Western Democracies

This paper uses Israel’s 2018 Nation-State Law, which guarantees the “ethnic-religious character of Israel as exclusively Jewish,” as a lens to reveal the ongoing socio-political change in Israel and processes of democratic erosion. In addition to having immediate relevance for contemporary Israeli policy, especially concerning the status of Arab Israelis and the likely annexation of the West Bank, the law poses a profound, existential challenge for the maintenance of Israel as a democratic state. Drawing on Fareed Zakaria’s theory of “illiberal democracy,” this paper analyses the implications of this law for Israel, for the linked concepts of liberalism and democracy, and for the future of the democratic state in an increasingly illiberal world. The law is a culmination of other basic laws and political thresholds, and accelerates settler colonialism. Gaining more international attention than previous basic laws, the political thresholds prior to the Nation-State Law and cumulative legislation building up to the debate have been ignored. Analysing these thresholds will reveal the efficacy of supporting such a law and using nationhood provisions in other Western democratic constitutions as justification. This paper is a warning: to act upon seemingly insignificant anti-democratic legislation before political actions become irreparable.     The law is a culmination of other basic laws, political thresholds, and accelerates settler colonialism. Gaining more international attention than previous basic laws, direct discriminatory implications on Arab minorities as well as powerful legal consequences, the political thresholds prior to the Nation-State Law and cumulative legislation building up to the debate have been ignored. This paper will hopefully reveal the efficacy of supporting such a law and using the nationhood provisions in other constitutions in Western democracies as justification. This paper is a warning: to act upon seemingly insignificant anti-democratic legislation before political actions become irreparable.  

The Nation State Law and the Arabic Language in Israel: Downgrading, Replicating or Upgrading?

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-285
Author(s):  
Mohammed S Wattad
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
The State ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Official Language ◽  
State Law ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
The Status

Article 4 of the Nation State Law (NSL), entitled ‘Languages’, stipulates that Hebrew is the language of the state (Article 4(a)); the Arabic language has a special status in the state and regulating the use of Arabic in or by state institutions will be set in law (Article 4(b)); and this clause does not harm the status given to the Arabic language before the law came into effect (Article 4(c), the ‘validity of laws’ clause). The question is whether, how, and to what extent these provisions hinder the present legal status of the Arabic language in Israel. The legal status of Arabic had never been determined decisively before enactment of the NSL. The High Court of Israel has always been divided on this matter, particularly between judges who perceived Arabic as an official language and judges who deemed it solely as having been granted its acknowledged ‘special legal status’. Furthermore, the judges who perceived Arabic as an official language of the state were also in dispute among themselves as to the meaning, the scope and the consequences of such recognition. Considering these circumstances, my view is that the NSL perpetuates the legal status of Arabic as prescribed in the laws and case law that already existed, and that the validity of laws clause, coupled with the special status granted to Arabic in a basic law, suggests that the door is still open for the Court to further endorse the legal status of Arabic in Israel.

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