{"id":115811,"date":"2018-08-06T12:00:34","date_gmt":"2018-08-06T11:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=115811"},"modified":"2018-07-31T16:27:09","modified_gmt":"2018-07-31T15:27:09","slug":"jewish-nation-state-law-why-israel-was-never-a-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/08\/jewish-nation-state-law-why-israel-was-never-a-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Jewish Nation-State Law: Why Israel Was Never a Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_115812\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/apartheid-street-israel-palestine.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-115812\" class=\"size-full wp-image-115812\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/apartheid-street-israel-palestine.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/apartheid-street-israel-palestine.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/apartheid-street-israel-palestine-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-115812\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8220;The Jewish Nations-state bill is the officiator of Apartheid in Israel&#8221;. (Photo: via Social Media)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>25 Jul 2018 &#8211; <\/em>The head of the Arab Joint List Alliance at the Israeli Knesset (Parliament), Aymen Odeh,\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.alaraby.co.uk\/english\/news\/2018\/7\/19\/israel-adopts-controversial-jewish-nation-state-law\" >described<\/a>\u00a0the passing of the racist Jewish Nation-state Law as \u201cthe death of our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Did Odeh truly believe that, prior to this law, he had lived in a\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/972mag.com\/when-racism-in-israel-becomes-the-legitimate-right-of-its-jewish-citizens\/136332\/\" >true democracy<\/a>? 70 years of Israeli Jewish supremacy, genocide, ethnic cleansing, wars, sieges, mass incarceration, numerous discriminatory laws, all aimed at the very destruction of the Palestinian people should have given enough clues that Israel was never a democracy, to begin with.<\/p>\n<p>The Jewish Nation-state Law is merely the icing on the cake. It simply gave those who argued, all along, that Israel\u2019s attempt at combining democracy with ethnic supremacy was racism masquerading as democracy, the munition they needed to further illustrate the point.<\/p>\n<p>There is no escaping the moral imperative now. Those who insist on supporting Israel must know that they are supporting an unabashed Apartheid regime.<\/p>\n<p>The new law, which was passed after some wrangling on January 19, has divorced Israel from any claim, however untrue, to being a democratic state.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the law does not mention the word \u2018democracy\u2019 in its wording, not even once. Reference to the Jewish identity of the state, however, are\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/Israel-News\/Read-the-full-Jewish-Nation-State-Law-562923\" >ample and dominant<\/a>, with the clear exclusion of the Palestinian people from their rights in their historic homeland:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cThe state of Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people \u2026<\/li>\n<li>\u201cThe actualization of the right of national self-determination in the state of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cThe state will labor to ensure the safety of sons of the Jewish people \u2026<\/li>\n<li>\u201cThe state will act to preserve the cultural, historical and religious legacy of the Jewish people among the Jewish diaspora,\u201d and so on.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But most dangerous of all is the stipulation that \u201cthe state views Jewish settlement as a national value and will labor to encourage and promote its establishment and development.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>True, illegal Jewish settlements already dot the Palestinian land in the West Bank and Jerusalem; and a de facto segregation already exists in Israel itself. In fact, segregation is so deep and entrenched, even\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/israel-news\/in-israeli-maternity-wards-jewish-and-arab-segregation-is-the-default-1.6097402\" >maternity wards<\/a>\u00a0in Israeli hospitals separate between mothers, based on their race.<\/p>\n<p>The above stipulation, however, will further accelerate segregation and cement Apartheid, making the harm not merely intellectual and political, but physical as well.<\/p>\n<p>The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Adalah, has\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.adalah.org\/en\/content\/view\/7771\" >documented<\/a>\u00a0in its \u2018Discriminatory Laws Database\u2019 a list of over 65 Israeli laws that \u201cdiscriminate directly or indirectly against Palestinian citizens in Israel and\/or Palestinian residents of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) on the basis of their national belonging.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Adalah, \u201cThese laws limit the rights of Palestinians in all areas of life, from citizenship rights to the right to political participation, land and housing rights, education rights, cultural and language rights, religious rights, and due process rights during detention.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While it would be accurate to argue that the Jewish Nation-state bill is the officiation of Apartheid in Israel, this realization should not dismiss the previous reality upon which Israel was founded 70 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Apartheid is not a single law, but a slow, agonizing build-up of an intricate legal regime that is motivated by the belief that one racial group is superior to all others.<\/p>\n<p>Not only does the new law elevate Israel\u2019s Jewish identity and erase any commitment to democracy, it also downgrades the status of all others. Palestinian Arabs, the natives of the land of historic Palestine upon which Israel was established, did not feature prominently in the new law at all. There was a\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2018\/jul\/19\/one-more-racist-law-reactions-as-israel-axes-arabic-as-official-language\" >mere stipulation<\/a>\u00a0made to the Arabic language, but only to downgrade it from being an official language to a \u2018special one.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Israel\u2019s decision to refrain from formulating a written constitution when it was founded in 1948 was not a haphazard one. Since then, it has been following a predicable model where it would alter reality on the ground to the advantage of Jews at the expense of Palestinian Arabs.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of a constitution, Israel resorted to what it termed \u2018<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.knesset.gov.il\/description\/eng\/eng_mimshal_yesod1.htm\" >Basic Laws\u2019<\/a>, which allowed for the constant formulation of new laws guided by the \u2018Jewish State\u2019s\u2019 commitment to racial supremacy than to democracy, international law, human rights or any other ethnic value.<\/p>\n<p>The Jewish Nation-state Law is itself a \u2018Basic Law.\u2019 And with that law, Israel has dropped the meaningless claim to being both Jewish and democratic. This impossible task was often left to the Supreme Court which tried, but failed, to strike any convincing balance.<\/p>\n<p>This new reality should, once and for all, end the protracted debate on the supposed uniqueness of Israel\u2019s political system.<\/p>\n<p>And since Israel has chosen racial supremacy over any claim, however faint, to real democracy, western countries that have often shielded Israel must also make a choice on whether they wish to support an Apartheid regime or fight against it.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2018\/jul\/19\/israel-adopts-controversial-jewish-nation-state-law\" >initial statement<\/a>\u00a0by EU foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini was lackluster and feeble. \u201cWe are concerned, we have expressed this concern and we will continue to engage with Israeli authorities in this context,\u201d she said while renewing her commitment to the \u2018two-state solution.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>This is hardly the proper statement in response to a country that had just announced its membership in the Apartheid club.<\/p>\n<p>The EU must end its wishy-washy political discourse and disengage from Apartheid Israel, or it has to accept the moral, ethical and legal consequences of being an accomplice in Israeli crimes against Palestinians.<\/p>\n<p>Israel has made its choice and it is, unmistakably, the wrong one. The rest of the world must now make its choice as well, hopefully, the right one: standing on the right side of history \u2013 against Israeli Jewish Apartheid and for Palestinian rights.<\/p>\n<p>___________________________________________<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/ramzy-baroud-e1528543725693.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-112687\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/ramzy-baroud-e1528543725693.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"120\" \/><\/a><em>Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of <\/em>Palestine Chronicle<em>. He has a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter and has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. Baroud is a Non-Resident Scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, University of California Santa Barbara. His books include <\/em>Searching Jenin<em>, <\/em>The Second Palestinian Intifada,<em> and <\/em>My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza\u2019s Untold Story. <em>His latest book is <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Last-Earth-Palestinian-Story\/dp\/0745337996\/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1507555597&amp;sr=1-1&amp;dpID=51Ik5Td8csL&amp;preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&amp;dpSrc=detail\" >The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story<\/a> (Pluto Press, London, 2018). His website:<\/em> <em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ramzybaroud.net\" >www.ramzybaroud.net<\/a>. <\/em><em>Email: <\/em><em><a href=\"mailto:info@ramzybaroud.net\">info@ramzybaroud.net<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ramzybaroud.net\/jewish-nation-state-law-why-israel-was-never-a-democracy\/\" ><strong>Go to Original \u2013 ramzybaroud.net<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>25 Jul 2018 &#8211; Israel has made its choice and it is, unmistakably, the wrong one. The rest of the world must now make its choice as well, hopefully, the right one: standing on the right side of history \u2013 against Israeli Jewish Apartheid and for Palestinian rights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":115812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}