A bill that defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people is encountering political challenges.

By: World Israel News Staff

The Jewish Home party threatened on Monday to block the passage of a bill titled “Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People” if the Likud party drops a clause that strengthens the role of Jewish law in the State of Israel’s legal code.

The bill seeks to give the legislation quasi-constitutional status as a Basic Law, which necessitates the support of a majority of Knesset members.

The bill initially included provisions giving special consideration to traditional Jewish law in Israel’s legal code, a key demand presented by the Jewish Home party.

However, Likud MKs have signaled they wish to drop the clause, Jewish Home lawmakers charged.

Senior Jewish Home MKs said Monday that if the clause is not included, the party will block passage of the amended version of the bill.

“It is unthinkable that there would be no mention of Mishpat Ha’ivri [traditional Jewish law] in the Nationality Law,” said Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee Chairman Nissan Slomiansky (Jewish Home), Arutz 7 reported.

“Likud leaders promised to include this in the Nationality Law. Has the Likud really decided to abandon Mishpat Ha’ivri?” he declared.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to bring the bill to a vote in the Knesset for its second and third readings next week.

The following is included in the legislation: the definition of Israel as the Jewish and democratic nation-state of the Jewish people; the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in their historic homeland as well as recognition of the state’s official symbols; Jerusalem as the country’s capital, with Hebrew as its official language and Arabic as a language with special status; and the principle of “the gathering of exiles” and Jewish immigration to the state.

In addition, the proposal anchors Israel’s connection with Diaspora Jewry and the right to preserve a heritage for all residents of Israel, regardless of religion or nationality.

The bill establishes the Hebrew calendar as the state’s official calendar and the commemoration of Israel’s Independence Day, the Jewish holidays and the days of remembrance in the Basic Law.

Although the bill distinctly defines the State of Israel as a vehicle for the Jewish people to exercise national self-determination, the legislation also recognizes that “every resident of Israel, regardless of religion or national origin, is entitled to work to preserve his culture, heritage, language and identity.”

The bill also includes a section which would allow Jewish communities to refuse to allow non-Jews to live within their boundaries. This is the only actionable section of the bill, which otherwise is mostly declarative.

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Lawmakers drafted the bill after three Arab fellow members of Israel’s parliament visited the families of Palestinian terrorists who had attacked and murdered Israelis, and after several of them voiced support for Hezbollah.

The Knesset, Israel’s parliament, on Tuesday approved a bill allowing it to impeach a legislator who incites against the state or calls for an armed struggle against it by a three-quarters majority vote of 90 of the 120 Members of Knesset.

The vote passed at a 62-47 vote.

Lawmakers drafted the bill after three Arab lawmakers visited the families of Palestinian terrorists who had attacked and murdered Israelis and after several of them voiced support for the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terror group and condemned a resolution by Arab Gulf states to officially declare it a terror organization.

“Members of Knesset who go to console the families of terrorists who murdered Israelis do not deserve to be in the Israeli Knesset,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in February after the provocative visit.

MK Nissan Slomiansky, who sponsored the bill, stated “there are limits to democracy.”

“We cannot allow someone who supports terror and meets with those who kill Jews to sit beside us in the Knesset. There is no parliament in the world where such a thing would be allowed to happen. Even democracy has its red lines,” he explained

Legislators could oust a colleague for “inciting to racism,” ”supporting armed struggle, by an enemy state or terrorist organization, against Israel,” or “negating the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.”

The bill was authored primarily with Arab MK Hanin Zoabi in mind, a known advocate against Israel who has used her immunity as an MK to transgress the law, voice support of terrorism and act against Israel inside the country as well as abroad.

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News

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