Rabbi Danny Rich
12 August 2018

As the summer really took hold in Israel, the temperature in the Knesset rose dramatically as ‘Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People’ (INSJP) became part of the Israel’s effective constitution by 62 votes to 55.

On the surface, it appears to be uncontroversial and changing little. INSJP affirms what many Jews around the world already recognise: that Israel is a state for Jews reflected in its flag, national anthem and first official language.

On first reading, the details of INSJP also appear pedestrian. While the individual rights of all citizens will be respected, the State of Israel will be the national entity of the Jewish people with its capital in Jerusalem and the Hebrew calendar as the official one. Hebrew will be the sole official language and Arabic will have a special standing.

Yet this symbolic ‘demotion’ of Arabic, previously an official language, gets to the heart of the issue. The State of Israel is now seeking to make a distinction between citizenship and nationality in a crude and probably ultimately undemocratic manner.

Supporters of INSJP observe that it respects the individual rights of all citizens but merely gives the exclusive right of ‘self-determination’ to the overwhelming majority Jewish population.

Representatives of Israel’s 1.8 million Arab citizens (some 20% of the total population) have reacted with anger, labelling INSJP as a triumph of nationalism over equality.

Critics from all sides also see it as a contradiction of Israel’s Declaration of Independence, which guaranteed ‘the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants: will be based on precepts of liberty, justice and peace taught by the Hebrew prophets; will uphold the full social and political equality of all its citizens without distinction of race, creed or sex; will guarantee full freedom of conscience, worship, education and culture…’

Few observers doubt that Israel’s Arab population suffers discrimination in the provision of inferior services and unfair fiscal allocations in, for example education and housing.

The passage of INSJP will add to the perception – at least among Israel’s Arab citizens and perhaps in the world at large – that the State of Israel is moving closer to theocracy and further from democracy.

This is why I believe that ‘Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People’ is a dangerous and unnecessary political gesture.

• Rabbi Danny Rich is Liberal Judaism’s senior rabbi. A shortened version of this blog will also feature in next week’s Jewish News