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<h1 class="title">Knesset passes controversial 'Nationality Bill'
into law</h1>
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<div class="stamp">July 19, 2018 - <font size="-2"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=780444">http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=780444</a></font><br>
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JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- The Israeli Knesset passed the "Nationality
Bill" into law on predawn Thursday, which enshrines the status of
the State of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people.<br>
<br>
<div>Knesset members went through a heated debate until the <a
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=780442"
target="_blank">controversial bill</a> was approved into law
in its second and third readings, with 62 MKs voting in favor,
55 opposing, and two abstaining.<br>
<br>
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<div>The approval caused outrage among critics and Arab MKs, but
received a round of applause from right-wing government members.<br>
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<div>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his full
support of the law. He stated that Israel is the only country in
the Middle East that honors equal rights among its citizens,
even though the law was labeled as “racist and discriminatory”
by many critics from all over the world.<br>
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<div>After the vote, Netanyahu said that "This is a defining
moment in the annals of Zionism and the history of the state of
Israel." He continued by saying that "122 years after Theodor
Herzl, the father of modern political Zionism, published his
vision, we've enshrined into the law the basic principle of our
existence."<br>
<br>
MKs Benny Begin, of the Likud party, and Orly Levy abstained in
the 120 member Knesset after months of political debates, while
Arab MKs, who said the law is racist and creates apartheid,
shouted in the plenum and ripped up papers after the vote, which
prompted Knesset Speaker, Yuli Edelstein, to have the Arab MKs
removed.<br>
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<div>The law was enacted just after the largely symbolic 70th
anniversary of the establishment of Israel. The law confirms
that the State of Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish
people, who are the only ones in the nation to have an exclusive
right to self-determination.<br>
<br>
The number of Israeli Arabs makes up about 1.8 million citizens,
which is approximately 20% of the total population of <span
style="font-size: 11pt;">nine million</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt;">.<br>
<br>
</span></div>
<div>The approved law strips the Arabic language of its
designation as an official language alongside Hebrew language,
receiving a “special status” as Israel's second official
language, but the law would not require making state services
accessible in Arabic. <br>
<br>
Original drafts of the law took it further, which many critics
saw as discrimination towards Israeli Arabs. The original drafts
would have enshrined into law the establishment of Jewish-only
communities, and instructed courts to rule according to Jewish
ritual law when there were no relevant legal precedents
available. Instead of the original, several “changes” were made
and a more vague version of the law was approved, which states
that "the state views the development of Jewish settlement as a
national value and will act to encourage and promote its
establishment." <br>
<br>
Regarding the changes made, critics still insisted that the law
will deepen a sense of apartheid within the Arab community,
which has become a minority over the years. Following the vote,
MK Avi Dichter of the Likud party, who initiated the bill,
attempted to justify his reasons for passing it into law by
saying, "You (Arabs) were not here before us and you will not be
here after us."Dichter continued "The most you can do is to live
among us as a national minority that enjoys equal individual
rights, but not equality as a national minority." <br>
<br>
Israeli Arabs, who remained in Israel after the 1948
Arab-Israeli War, received full equal rights under the law but
already face constant discrimination on a daily basis. The
approved law will probably only increase the racism and
discrimination across Israel, causing a modern-day apartheid to
take place. <br>
<br>
The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Adalah,
called the "Nationality Bill" a bid to progress "ethnic
superiority by promoting racist policies."</div>
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