Claiming Israel Is the “Nation State of the Jewish
People” Is Widely Criticized
Allan C. Brownfeld, Editor
Special Interest Report
April 2015
In November, a proposal for a basic law “Israel, the Nation-State of the
Jewish People” passed in the Israeli Cabinet by a vote of 14-6, with two
centrist coalition parties opposing it. For the bill to become law it must
be approved by the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
There is much opposition to this proposed legislation by those who argue
that it would make Israel’s non-Jewish citizens — 20 per cent of the
population — less than equal. Ahmed Tibi, a veteran Arab member of the
Knesset, says that that there has long been tension between the halves of
the term “Jewish democracy,” as Israel defines itself. He notes that the
proposed legislation simply confirms that the Jewish and democratic state is
fiction.” He described Israel instead as a “Judocracy” that would never
recognize the collective rights of “a minority that has long suffered
discrimination.”
The proposed Nationality Law makes clear that even the limited democracy
which Israel now enjoys is under serious threat. Editorially, The New York
Times (Nov. 25, 2014) declares that, “Since its founding in 1948, Israel’s
very existence and promise has been based on the ideal of democracy for all
its people. Its Declaration of Independence, which provides the guiding
principles for the state, makes clear that the country was established as a
homeland for the Jews and guarantees ‘complete equality of social and
political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or
sex.’ That is why it is heartbreaking to see the Israeli cabinet approve a
contentious bill that would officially define Israel as the nation-state of
the Jewish people, reserving ‘national rights’ only for Jews … To go back
and emphasize nationality and religion in defining the country … runs
counter to the long-term movement among liberal democracies toward a more
inclusive vision of a state … Having experienced the grievous legacies
created when a government diminishes the rights of its people, we know this
is not the path Israel should take.”
Prof. Juan Cole of the University of Michigan argues that, “Saying Israel is
a Jewish state in the sense of race would be analogous to insisting that the
U.S. is a ‘white’ state and defining Latinos as ‘brown.’ And saying it is a
Jewish state in the sense of observant believers would be like asserting
that the U.S. is a Christian state even though about 22 per cent of the
population does not identify as Christian (roughly the same proportion as
non-Jews in Israel) … Netanyahu’s demand is either racist or fundamentalist
and is objectionable from an American point of view on human rights grounds
either way.”
Avi-noam Bar-Yosef, president of the Jewish People Policy Institute, said
that any distortion of the balance between Israel’s Jewish and democratic
character “may stain Israel in the eyes of the free world and distance
diaspora Jews.”
Writing in Washington Jewish Week (Nov. 27, 2014), Israeli journalist
Sarabeth Lukin notes that, “The bill upends the concept of Israel as ‘a
Jewish and democratic state’ and downgrades democracy to a secondary status.
It declares that Israel is first and foremost ‘the nation-state of the
Jewish people,’ providing all of Israel’s 8 million citizens with the vague
promise that they will be afforded ‘personal rights in accordance with every
law.’ The proposed law also declares that only the Jewish people enjoy the
right to national self-determination and that housing can be determined by
religion or nationality. And if Jewish law, Halacha, takes precedence over
civil law in both legal and legislative proceedings, as some scholars
interpret the bill, Israel will find itself in the company of other
theocratic Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran.”
Beyond this, the claim that Israel is the “nation-state” of “the Jewish
people,” is an ideological construct that has no relationship to reality.
The “nation-state” of American Jews is the United States, just as the
“nation-state” of British Jews is the United Kingdom and the “nation-state”
of French Jews is France, etc.
If Israel seeks genuine peace, it should content itself with being the
nation of all of its citizens and abandon the myth that it is the “nation-
state” of Jews who are citizens of other countries. •
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