The Israeli Arab community is “more integrated” and has “more mobility” in Israeli society than ever.
srael’s new Jewish Nation-State law, passed in the Knesset on July 19, has been greeted with widespread condemnation abroad. Yet upon closer examination much of the criticism appears to be based upon misinterpretations and assumptions that go beyond the actual wording of the law.
The law, it must be stressed outright, is purely declarative in nature and carries with it no practical impact on Israeli life. Rather, it is an overwhelmingly symbolic reaction to those who object to the continued existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.
Principally among them is the Palestinian leadership, who have vehemently rejected Israel’s reasonable demand to be accepted and recognised as a Jewish homeland in any future peace agreement, just as Palestine will be the Palestinian homeland.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made this clear in his response to the law’s passage. “Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people, which respects the individual rights of all its citizens,” Netanyahu said. “In recent years there have been some who have attempted to put this in doubt, to undercut the core of our being. Today we made it law: This is our nation, language and flag.”
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