20 july 2018
By passing the nation-state bill Israel has entrenched and exacerbated 70 years of inequality and discrimination against non-Jews in a law with constitutional status, Amnesty International tweeted on Thursday.
“Palestinians, making up 20% of Israel's population, are now officially second class citizens”, Amnesty’s tweet read. “Israel must uphold human rights for all.”
The Israeli Knesset voted 62 to 55 early Thursday to approve the Jewish Nation-State Basic Law that constitutionally enshrines the identity of the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.
It guarantees the ethnic-religious character of Israel as exclusively Jewish and entrenches the privileges enjoyed by Jewish citizens, while simultaneously anchoring discrimination against Palestinian citizens and legitimizing exclusion, racism, and systemic inequality. It is considered as the “law of laws” capable of overriding any ordinary legislation.
The danger of the law lies in the act that it denies the Palestinian citizens their right to self-determination to instead be determined by the Jewish population. The Jewish Nation-State bill officially legalizes apartheid, in what observers dubbed one of the most dangerous laws adopted in recent decades to legalize discrimination against Arabs.
Jordan condemns Israel’s “racist” nation-state law
The Jordanian government has strongly denounced the Israeli Knesset’s endorsement of a new racist law entrenching Israel as an exclusive state for the Jewish people.
Minister of state for media affairs and government spokesperson Jumana Ghunaimat stated in press remarks yesterday that the nation-state law, which was passed by the Knesset on Wednesday, violated the international law, conventions and norms, and would consolidate apartheid in Israel and the occupied territories.
“This law will take us away from any chance to achieve just and comprehensive peace in the region and will fuel violence and extremism,” Ghunaimat said, adding that the law targets the humanitarian and historical presence of the Palestinian people in their homeland.
The spokeswoman also called on the international community to shoulder its legal, political and moral responsibilities in this regard and take action to confront this Israeli law and its impacts.
She stressed that “the Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their native areas is an inalienable right conforming with the international law.”
Turkey strongly condemns Israel's 'Jewish nation-state' law
Turkey on Thursday slammed a new Jewish nation-state law passed by Israel's Knesset, saying it "disregards" norms of universal law.
In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said: “The Jewish nation-state law passed by the Israeli parliament today disregards norms of universal law and ignores the rights of Palestinians.”
The statement came after Israel's Knesset on Thursday passed a law which declares the country to be “the nation-state of the Jewish people”.
The ministry also condemned the law -- describing the right to self-determination in Israel as only belonging to Jewish people -- as “antiquated” and “discriminatory.”
The statement called on the international community to take a stand against the law, meant to end the vision of a two-state solution.
“Palestinians, making up 20% of Israel's population, are now officially second class citizens”, Amnesty’s tweet read. “Israel must uphold human rights for all.”
The Israeli Knesset voted 62 to 55 early Thursday to approve the Jewish Nation-State Basic Law that constitutionally enshrines the identity of the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.
It guarantees the ethnic-religious character of Israel as exclusively Jewish and entrenches the privileges enjoyed by Jewish citizens, while simultaneously anchoring discrimination against Palestinian citizens and legitimizing exclusion, racism, and systemic inequality. It is considered as the “law of laws” capable of overriding any ordinary legislation.
The danger of the law lies in the act that it denies the Palestinian citizens their right to self-determination to instead be determined by the Jewish population. The Jewish Nation-State bill officially legalizes apartheid, in what observers dubbed one of the most dangerous laws adopted in recent decades to legalize discrimination against Arabs.
Jordan condemns Israel’s “racist” nation-state law
The Jordanian government has strongly denounced the Israeli Knesset’s endorsement of a new racist law entrenching Israel as an exclusive state for the Jewish people.
Minister of state for media affairs and government spokesperson Jumana Ghunaimat stated in press remarks yesterday that the nation-state law, which was passed by the Knesset on Wednesday, violated the international law, conventions and norms, and would consolidate apartheid in Israel and the occupied territories.
“This law will take us away from any chance to achieve just and comprehensive peace in the region and will fuel violence and extremism,” Ghunaimat said, adding that the law targets the humanitarian and historical presence of the Palestinian people in their homeland.
The spokeswoman also called on the international community to shoulder its legal, political and moral responsibilities in this regard and take action to confront this Israeli law and its impacts.
She stressed that “the Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their native areas is an inalienable right conforming with the international law.”
Turkey strongly condemns Israel's 'Jewish nation-state' law
Turkey on Thursday slammed a new Jewish nation-state law passed by Israel's Knesset, saying it "disregards" norms of universal law.
In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said: “The Jewish nation-state law passed by the Israeli parliament today disregards norms of universal law and ignores the rights of Palestinians.”
The statement came after Israel's Knesset on Thursday passed a law which declares the country to be “the nation-state of the Jewish people”.
The ministry also condemned the law -- describing the right to self-determination in Israel as only belonging to Jewish people -- as “antiquated” and “discriminatory.”
The statement called on the international community to take a stand against the law, meant to end the vision of a two-state solution.
19 july 2018
New Basic Law, approved by a Knesset vote of 62-55, has distinct apartheid characteristics and requires racist acts as a constitutional value.
The Israeli Knesset voted 62 to 55 early today, Thursday, 19 July, 2018, to approve the Jewish Nation-State Basic Law that constitutionally enshrines the identity of the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.
This law guarantees the ethnic-religious character of Israel as exclusively Jewish and entrenches the privileges enjoyed by Jewish citizens, while simultaneously anchoring discrimination against Palestinian citizens and legitimizing exclusion, racism, and systemic inequality.
The Jewish Nation-State Basic Law is the “law of laws” capable of overriding any ordinary legislation.
The law will apply to areas known as the “Green Line”, where nearly twenty percent of the population are Palestinian citizens of Israel, as well as to territories occupied in 1967 such as Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, which were annexed to the territory of the State of Israel by law. This annexation is considered illegal under international law.
Adalah General Director Hassan Jabareen responded to the Israeli parliament’s vote to approve the Nation-State Law:
“The Jewish Nation-State Law features key elements of apartheid, which is not only immoral but also absolutely prohibited under international law. The new law constitutionally enshrines the identity of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people only – despite the 1.5 million Palestinian citizens of the state and residents of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights – and guarantees the exclusive ethnic-religious character of Israel as Jewish. By defining sovereignty and democratic self-rule as belonging solely to the Jewish people – wherever they live around the world – Israel has made discrimination a constitutional value and has professed its commitment to favoring Jewish supremacy as the bedrock of its institutions.”
Related — 07/19/18 PM Hamdallah: Jewish Nation-State Law Legitimizes Apartheid
WHAT IS THE NATION-STATE LAW? [Click for more details] [pdf]
The Nation-State Basic Law declares that Israel is a Jewish state – only. The law provides that, “The Land of Israel is the historical homeland of the Jewish people, in which the State of Israel was established” and that “the State of Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people”. The “people” here are not limited to “Israeli Jews” nor is it defined in terms of the “state of all citizens”, but rather it includes the “Jewish people” wherever they are in the world. Palestinian citizens of Israel, who compromise 20% of the population, are totally excluded.
The Nation-State Basic Law, which has constitutional status, is anti-democratic: The law negates the main purpose behind the introduction of a democratic constitution according to which residents living in a given territory are equal citizens and constitute the sovereign.
The Basic Law provides that self-determination will be exclusive to Jews. The law stands to justify the difference between the realization of basic rights between Jews and non-Jews as a legitimate distinction and not as an invalid discrimination.
The Nation-State Basic Law establishes discrimination as a constitutional value: It determines the national interest in accordance with the collective Zionist interests, which serve to justify the exclusion of the rights of the Arab population. Despite the bi-national reality, the law promotes exclusive, ethnic discrimination. National projects that seek to Judaize spaces, encourage Jewish settlement, and create demographic balances become worthy causes that justify discrimination against Arabs on the level of individual and collective rights.
Oppression and control are expressed in two main aspects of the law: First, the law imposes a constitutional identity on the Arabs without their consent. Second, the law creates a situation in which the Arabs participate, under coercion, in promoting the discrimination against them. While they bear equal tax obligations as citizens/residents, the Basic Law’s alignment of national interests with the exclusive interests of the Jewish population, results in forcing the Arab population to contribute, subsidize and promote those national projects that negate their identity and status.
What is new in the Basic Law that differs from existing practice? The policy of discrimination and oppression against Palestinians has existed since 1948, according to principles based on the supremacy of the Jewish population that support the Judaization of the space and the demographic dilution of the Palestinian population. However, there is a difference between racism and racist practices and this new Basic Law that requires, as a constitutional mandate, racist acts.
The Nation-State Law violates absolute prohibitions under international law: The Basic Law suspends the two systems of law that are perceived as legitimate under international law:. The first system is the state’s domestic legal system, which should be based on equality before the law and the rule of law. The second system is that of international humanitarian law (IHL), which is applicable to an occupied territory.
A colonial regime is expressed in this Basic Law by the imposition of a constitutional identity of Jewish ethnic supremacy and control, without consent and cooperation, which denies the connection between the Palestinian natives (citizens and residents) with their homeland. This colonial regime is the kind that falls within the bounds of absolute prohibitions under the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (“the Apartheid Convention”), which proclaims practices of apartheid, including legislation, as a crime against humanity.
The Nation-State Basic Law is illegitimate. It seeks to maintain a regime in which one ethnic-national group controls an indigenous-national group living in the same territory while advancing ethnic superiority by promoting racist policies in the most basic aspects of life.
CLICK HERE to read Adalah’s position paper on the Nation-State Law [pdf]
The Israeli Knesset voted 62 to 55 early today, Thursday, 19 July, 2018, to approve the Jewish Nation-State Basic Law that constitutionally enshrines the identity of the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.
This law guarantees the ethnic-religious character of Israel as exclusively Jewish and entrenches the privileges enjoyed by Jewish citizens, while simultaneously anchoring discrimination against Palestinian citizens and legitimizing exclusion, racism, and systemic inequality.
The Jewish Nation-State Basic Law is the “law of laws” capable of overriding any ordinary legislation.
The law will apply to areas known as the “Green Line”, where nearly twenty percent of the population are Palestinian citizens of Israel, as well as to territories occupied in 1967 such as Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, which were annexed to the territory of the State of Israel by law. This annexation is considered illegal under international law.
Adalah General Director Hassan Jabareen responded to the Israeli parliament’s vote to approve the Nation-State Law:
“The Jewish Nation-State Law features key elements of apartheid, which is not only immoral but also absolutely prohibited under international law. The new law constitutionally enshrines the identity of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people only – despite the 1.5 million Palestinian citizens of the state and residents of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights – and guarantees the exclusive ethnic-religious character of Israel as Jewish. By defining sovereignty and democratic self-rule as belonging solely to the Jewish people – wherever they live around the world – Israel has made discrimination a constitutional value and has professed its commitment to favoring Jewish supremacy as the bedrock of its institutions.”
Related — 07/19/18 PM Hamdallah: Jewish Nation-State Law Legitimizes Apartheid
WHAT IS THE NATION-STATE LAW? [Click for more details] [pdf]
The Nation-State Basic Law declares that Israel is a Jewish state – only. The law provides that, “The Land of Israel is the historical homeland of the Jewish people, in which the State of Israel was established” and that “the State of Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people”. The “people” here are not limited to “Israeli Jews” nor is it defined in terms of the “state of all citizens”, but rather it includes the “Jewish people” wherever they are in the world. Palestinian citizens of Israel, who compromise 20% of the population, are totally excluded.
The Nation-State Basic Law, which has constitutional status, is anti-democratic: The law negates the main purpose behind the introduction of a democratic constitution according to which residents living in a given territory are equal citizens and constitute the sovereign.
The Basic Law provides that self-determination will be exclusive to Jews. The law stands to justify the difference between the realization of basic rights between Jews and non-Jews as a legitimate distinction and not as an invalid discrimination.
The Nation-State Basic Law establishes discrimination as a constitutional value: It determines the national interest in accordance with the collective Zionist interests, which serve to justify the exclusion of the rights of the Arab population. Despite the bi-national reality, the law promotes exclusive, ethnic discrimination. National projects that seek to Judaize spaces, encourage Jewish settlement, and create demographic balances become worthy causes that justify discrimination against Arabs on the level of individual and collective rights.
Oppression and control are expressed in two main aspects of the law: First, the law imposes a constitutional identity on the Arabs without their consent. Second, the law creates a situation in which the Arabs participate, under coercion, in promoting the discrimination against them. While they bear equal tax obligations as citizens/residents, the Basic Law’s alignment of national interests with the exclusive interests of the Jewish population, results in forcing the Arab population to contribute, subsidize and promote those national projects that negate their identity and status.
What is new in the Basic Law that differs from existing practice? The policy of discrimination and oppression against Palestinians has existed since 1948, according to principles based on the supremacy of the Jewish population that support the Judaization of the space and the demographic dilution of the Palestinian population. However, there is a difference between racism and racist practices and this new Basic Law that requires, as a constitutional mandate, racist acts.
The Nation-State Law violates absolute prohibitions under international law: The Basic Law suspends the two systems of law that are perceived as legitimate under international law:. The first system is the state’s domestic legal system, which should be based on equality before the law and the rule of law. The second system is that of international humanitarian law (IHL), which is applicable to an occupied territory.
A colonial regime is expressed in this Basic Law by the imposition of a constitutional identity of Jewish ethnic supremacy and control, without consent and cooperation, which denies the connection between the Palestinian natives (citizens and residents) with their homeland. This colonial regime is the kind that falls within the bounds of absolute prohibitions under the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (“the Apartheid Convention”), which proclaims practices of apartheid, including legislation, as a crime against humanity.
The Nation-State Basic Law is illegitimate. It seeks to maintain a regime in which one ethnic-national group controls an indigenous-national group living in the same territory while advancing ethnic superiority by promoting racist policies in the most basic aspects of life.
CLICK HERE to read Adalah’s position paper on the Nation-State Law [pdf]
17 july 2018
The Israeli Knesset approved, on Monday night, the “Breaking The Silence” bill, granting the Minister of Education the power to prevent peace activists from the organization “Breaking the Silence” from entering schools, or to talking to students about their organization.
The approved bill passed with 43 Knesset members voting in favor, while 24 opposed it; in the wording of the bill, it describes Breaking the Silence members, former Israeli soldiers who decided to speak out against the ongoing military violations against the Palestinian people, as “external elements that act against the Israeli military, and the educational system.”
The Maan News Agency quoted Breaking The Silence as stating that Israel is now taking action to silence the activists, after using other means to try to stop them from speaking out against the Israeli occupation and its illegal practices.
The new Israeli law, although naming Breaking The Silence, is also meant to prevent any organization or group that opposes the Israeli military occupation of Palestine from entering schools and talking to the students.
In their statement in response to the new law, Breaking the Silence stated that the passage of the bill shows that Education Minister Naftali Bennet, “is so terrified by Breaking the Silence, that he would go so far as to pass a law meant simply to silence us.”
The group said that Bennet wants to present only his agenda to students in Israel. Bennet’s curricula include justification for the killing of Palestinian children, while at the same time refusing any eviction of colonialist Israeli settlers from the occupied West Bank.
It is worth mentioning that Bennet commented in the vote stating that “the reality in which organizations could harm Israel’s legitimacy, and the reputation of its soldiers in front of school students, has come to an end.”
He added that, as long as, “Breaking the Silence remain active against the state of Israel and its army, in the country or abroad, but I will not allow them to be active in our educational system; if they want to be active in their homes, so be it, but not in our schools, where we shape the future generation, such voices will not be allowed.”
Breaking the Silence is a group made up of former Israeli soldiers who served in the Occupied Palestinian Territories of the West Bank and Gaza, but felt remorse for their actions and the atrocities they witnessed or participated in.
These former soldiers share their personal accounts of what they experienced, including stories of being ordered to brutalize children, terrorize families, and shoot unarmed civilians. The main purpose of the group is to share the accounts of these soldiers to show the reality of the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian land to an Israeli public that has hidden this reality behind a Wall.
The approved bill passed with 43 Knesset members voting in favor, while 24 opposed it; in the wording of the bill, it describes Breaking the Silence members, former Israeli soldiers who decided to speak out against the ongoing military violations against the Palestinian people, as “external elements that act against the Israeli military, and the educational system.”
The Maan News Agency quoted Breaking The Silence as stating that Israel is now taking action to silence the activists, after using other means to try to stop them from speaking out against the Israeli occupation and its illegal practices.
The new Israeli law, although naming Breaking The Silence, is also meant to prevent any organization or group that opposes the Israeli military occupation of Palestine from entering schools and talking to the students.
In their statement in response to the new law, Breaking the Silence stated that the passage of the bill shows that Education Minister Naftali Bennet, “is so terrified by Breaking the Silence, that he would go so far as to pass a law meant simply to silence us.”
The group said that Bennet wants to present only his agenda to students in Israel. Bennet’s curricula include justification for the killing of Palestinian children, while at the same time refusing any eviction of colonialist Israeli settlers from the occupied West Bank.
It is worth mentioning that Bennet commented in the vote stating that “the reality in which organizations could harm Israel’s legitimacy, and the reputation of its soldiers in front of school students, has come to an end.”
He added that, as long as, “Breaking the Silence remain active against the state of Israel and its army, in the country or abroad, but I will not allow them to be active in our educational system; if they want to be active in their homes, so be it, but not in our schools, where we shape the future generation, such voices will not be allowed.”
Breaking the Silence is a group made up of former Israeli soldiers who served in the Occupied Palestinian Territories of the West Bank and Gaza, but felt remorse for their actions and the atrocities they witnessed or participated in.
These former soldiers share their personal accounts of what they experienced, including stories of being ordered to brutalize children, terrorize families, and shoot unarmed civilians. The main purpose of the group is to share the accounts of these soldiers to show the reality of the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian land to an Israeli public that has hidden this reality behind a Wall.
16 july 2018
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The Palestinian Information Ministry issued a statement strongly denouncing the new Israeli “Facebook Bill,” and described it as one of Israel’s illegal policies, especially those aiming at concealing and burying the truth, and the ongoing crimes committed by its army against the Palestinians in occupied Palestine.
In a statement released Monday, the Ministry said the new Israeli bill, is a continuation of its policies, which aim at inciting against the Palestinians, and silencing those who expose its crimes on social media networks. “Israel’s parliament should act on stopping the platforms that openly incite against our people, calling for killing them,” it said, “Instead of celebrating the release of Israeli terrorists who murdered and burnt our children in Palestine, Israel should be prosecuting them, rather than abducting and |
imprisoning the Palestinians, including journalists, who expose these crimes.”
It called on parliaments and governments around the world to intervene, and “to stop this wave or racism and fanaticism the Israeli Knesset is trying to pass into laws, and the protection it provides to the murders.”
On Monday, Israel passed the bill, allowing it to proceed to the final readings before it becomes a law.
The bill was submitted by Israeli Justice Minister, Ayelet Shaked of the “Jewish Home Party,” and Public Security Ministry Gilad Erdan, of the ruling Likud party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The bill does not only call for removing what it described as “terrorist content,” but also gives Israeli district courts the legal authority to order social media companies, including Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter, to remove all posts that are deemed “illegal,” or “endangering personal, public and national security.”
Another important part of the bill is directly linked to the victories achieved by Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activists as it deems illegal social media posts and pages that “could seriously cause damage to Israel’s economy or infrastructure.”
On the ground, Israel has already been abducting and imprisoning Palestinians for Facebook, Twitter and other social media posts that were deemed “incitement,” or “promoting violence,” but failed to act on posts by Israelis openly calling for killing and harming the Palestinians.
Last month, the Palestinian Authority’s Information Ministry sent a letter to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) complaining about the preliminary Israeli Knesset proposal, which passed the first reading, forbidding journalists, and ordinary residents, from filming and documenting Israeli invasions and military activities in occupied Palestine.
It called on parliaments and governments around the world to intervene, and “to stop this wave or racism and fanaticism the Israeli Knesset is trying to pass into laws, and the protection it provides to the murders.”
On Monday, Israel passed the bill, allowing it to proceed to the final readings before it becomes a law.
The bill was submitted by Israeli Justice Minister, Ayelet Shaked of the “Jewish Home Party,” and Public Security Ministry Gilad Erdan, of the ruling Likud party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The bill does not only call for removing what it described as “terrorist content,” but also gives Israeli district courts the legal authority to order social media companies, including Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter, to remove all posts that are deemed “illegal,” or “endangering personal, public and national security.”
Another important part of the bill is directly linked to the victories achieved by Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activists as it deems illegal social media posts and pages that “could seriously cause damage to Israel’s economy or infrastructure.”
On the ground, Israel has already been abducting and imprisoning Palestinians for Facebook, Twitter and other social media posts that were deemed “incitement,” or “promoting violence,” but failed to act on posts by Israelis openly calling for killing and harming the Palestinians.
Last month, the Palestinian Authority’s Information Ministry sent a letter to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) complaining about the preliminary Israeli Knesset proposal, which passed the first reading, forbidding journalists, and ordinary residents, from filming and documenting Israeli invasions and military activities in occupied Palestine.
