JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday defended his government’s support for a proposal to enshrine in law Israel’s status as the national Jewish homeland, after criticism from President Reuven Rivlin.
Critics say the move — backed by the cabinet on Sunday — will come at the expense of democracy and institutionalise discrimination against minorities,
including Arabs.
“The aim of this law is to guarantee the future of the Jewish people on its land,” Netanyahu told parliament, hitting back at “those who want to
question the national right of the Jewish people (to live on)
this land.”
On Tuesday, President Rivlin, who also hails from Netanyahu’s rightwing Likud party, said he did “not understand the interest of this law.”
“Placing the state’s Jewish character before its democratic character puts into question its principles in the declaration of independence, which stated Israel’s Judaism and democracy were values of equal importance,” Rivlin said during a speech in the southern port city of Eilat.
Israel’s identity is already contained in its 1948 declaration of independence, according to the Israel Democracy Institute, which said the new proposal
fails to emphasise “commitment to the equality of all its citizens”.
Netanyahu insists the law would balance Israel’s Jewish and democratic characteristics.
The country’s parliament, the Knesset, is to vote on the proposal on December 3. AFP
