File photo: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
A recently-approved Israeli law that recognizes Israel as the “nation-state of the Jewish people” has invited a storm of condemnations and outrage in Israel and among Jewish groups.
Approved by Knesset (Israel’s parliament) on Thursday, the legislation also states that a “united Jerusalem” is the capital of Israel and that Hebrew is the country's official language, stripping Arabic of its earlier designation as an official language while recognizing its “special status.”
A Palestinian youth with Down syndrome was arrested and tortured by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank city of al-Khalil. The disabled youth was left with a broken arm after he was viciously assaulted by Israeli soldiers during his detention.Israeli occupation soldiers arrested and assaulted a Palestinian youth with down syndrome yesterday in occupied Al-Khalil. He suffers from a broken arm. #Palestine pic.twitter.com/g9QuqG4xps— DOAM (@doamuslims) 21 Temmuz 2018 This marks the second time Israeli forces assaulted a Palestinian with Down syndrome after a similar incident took place during protests against U.S. President Donald Trump’s embassy move in December of last year. Israeli forces then assaulted and detained Muhammad al-Taweel, who also suffers from Down syndrome, in the occupied West Bank city of al-Khalil.Israeli soldiers arresting “Down syndrome” Person. Muhammad Al-Taweel in Hebron pic.twitter.com/z6eFvI2XdS— شجاعية (@shejae3a) 8 Aralık 2017 The inhumane treatment of Palestinian civilians at the hands of Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank comes as Israel steps up its attacks against peaceful protesters near the Gaza Border in the context of the ongoing “Great March for Return” demonstrations against Israeli occupation and oppression.Four Palestinians were killed Friday by Israeli forces in two separate incidents near the Gaza-Israel buffer zone, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. For almost four months, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been holding almost daily demonstrations near the Gaza-Israel buffer zone.Video: Two Palestinians in Gaza Strip killed by Israeli forcesSince the demonstrations began on March 30, more than 140 Palestinian protesters have been martyred -- and thousands more injured -- by Israeli army gunfire.Protesters demand the “right of return” to their homes and villages in historical Palestine, from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.They also demand an end to Israel’s 11-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly 2 million inhabitants of many basic commodities.Palestine urges intervention to end escalation in GazaFour Palestinians in Gaza Strip killed by Israeli forces
Israeli forces arrest, torture Palestinian youth with Down syndrome
Israeli tanks shelled a position of Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to the Israeli military.In a statement, the army said the tank fire came after suspects crossed a security fence between Gaza and Israel.Local residents said the shelling targeted an observation tower in the eastern Gaza Strip.No casualties were reported.Palestine urges intervention to end escalation in GazaSaturday’s shelling came shortly after Hamas announced a cease-fire deal between Palestinian resistance factions and Israel to ease tension in the Palestinian territory.The Israeli army also announced that Israeli communities adjacent to the Gaza border could return to normal civilian routine as calm was restored along Gaza border.The cease-fire deal came after four Palestinians were martyred and an Israeli soldier killed in an escalation on Friday.Since March, more than 140 Palestinians have been martyred – and thousands more injured – in Palestinian protests against the decades-long Israeli occupation and an 11-year blockade, which has gutted the Gaza economy and deprived its roughly 2 million inhabitants of many basic commodities.Video: Two Palestinians in Gaza Strip killed by Israeli forcesHamas: Israel, Palestinian movements reach ceasefireFour Palestinians in Gaza Strip killed by Israeli forces
Israeli army shells Hamas post in Gaza after truce
Tamar Zandberg, chairwoman of the left-wing Meretz Party, described the law as “shameful”.
“Zionism is no longer a national movement, but a forceful nationalism that humiliates the minority and establishes racial supremacy,” she said.
Opposition leader Isaac Herzog said “it is sad that the last speech for him as the head of opposition will be against this backdrop.”
The leader of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) on Friday slammed Israel’s recently approved "Jewish nation-state" law."Israel is moving step by step towards disaster, playing with fire and also regional and global balances," Devlet Bahceli wrote on Twitter.On Thursday, the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) approved the law, which describes Israel as “the nation-state of the Jewish people.”Germany silent on Israel’s ‘Jewish nation-state’ lawTurkey slams Israel's 'Jewish nation-state' lawThe legislation further states that a “united Jerusalem” is the capital of Israel and that Hebrew is the country's official language, stripping Arabic of its earlier designation as an official language while recognizing its “special status.”It was approved by a vote of 62-55 in a tumultuous assembly session in which Arab lawmakers decried what they called “Israeli racism against the Arab minority.”Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part, has hailed the legislation, describing its passage as a “defining moment for Zionism and Israel.”Turkey has denounced the legislation for trying to strip Palestinians of their rights.
Turkey’s MHP leader blasts Israel’s ‘Jewish state’ law
“History only will determine whether the law will benefit Israel or not,” he said.
Former foreign minister Tzipi Livni said the legislation was only to benefit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Netanyahu wants the law for his fight,” said Livni, a member of the Zionist Union.
Her party, the largest opposition party with 24 seats in Knesset, had voted against the law during its three readings.
Netanyahu has earlier hailed the legislation, describing its passage as a “defining moment for Zionism and Israel.”
Colonial
Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel has decried the legislation as “colonial” and “features key elements of apartheid”.
“The 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 NGO said in a statement.
It said the law further violates absolute prohibitions under international law which “proclaims practices of apartheid, including legislation, as a crime against humanity”.
Israel’s “Jewish Nation-State” law promises to usher in a new phase of anti-Arab discrimination and will further undermine the Middle East peace process, Palestinian experts say.Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Palestinian political analyst Talal Okal said the law is based on the erroneous Zionist notion of “a land without a people for a people without a land”.As a result of the legislation, Okal said, “Palestinians in Israel will be subject to increased discrimination while the collective displacement of Palestinians [from their land] will only accelerate”.Turkish vice president blasts new Israeli lawThe new law, he went on to warn, “will only serve to legitimize the eviction of Palestinians from their land to make way for new Jewish settlements”.On Thursday, the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) passed a law that describes Israel as “the nation-state of the Jewish people”.The legislation was approved in a vote of 62 to 55 in a tumultuous session of the assembly during which Arab lawmakers slammed what they described as “Israeli racism against the [country’s] Arab minority”.The legislation further states that a “united Jerusalem” is the country’s capital and that Hebrew is its official language, stripping Arabic of its earlier designation as an official language while recognizing its “special status”.Turkish presidential aide condemns 'Jewish state' lawPalestinian writer and political analyst Abdel Majid Sweilam, for his part, described the law as “fascist” in nature, warning that it would “officially end the peace process”.Sweilam called for the legislation to be overturned, noting that international law “rejects the establishment of any political regime based on race or ethnicity”.The controversial law, he added, “means there will no longer be anything preventing the Israeli government from officially supporting the settlements”, which are being illegally built on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.Israel hits Gaza Strip, killing Palestinian, injuring 3Jihad Harb, a political science lecturer at Ramallah’s Birzeit University, says the law will surely derail any potential peace deal with the Palestinians.“It means that Jerusalem’s status cannot be negotiated within the context of a future peace deal,” he said.Suleiman Basharat, a researcher at the Yabous Center for Strategic Studies, warned of the law’s adverse effect on Israeli-Palestinian relations.‘Extremist’ Israeli legislation draws storm of outrage“It will encourage Jewish discrimination against Palestinians and the displacement of the latter, especially in mixed cities where Palestinians currently live side by side with Jews,” Basharat said.“This law will allow the state to treat non-Jews as second-class citizens,” he added.Basharat concluded by saying that, through the new legislation, Israel “has officially ended the peace process and given up on the possibility of reaching a political solution [with the Palestinians] based on international law”.Turkey slams Israel's 'Jewish nation-state' lawEU expresses concern over Israel's Jewish nation-state lawIsrael adopts divisive Jewish nation-state law
Palestinian experts slam Israel’s ‘Jewish State’ law
The Knesset (Israel’s parliament) on Thursday approved a controversial “national law”, which Arab assembly members have blasted as “anti-democratic” and “extremist” in nature.The law was approved -- in both its second and third readings -- by a vote of 62 to 55 in a tumultuous Knesset session in which Arab lawmakers slammed what they described as “Israeli racism against the Arab minority”.According to Israeli daily Haaretz, the law “officially defines Israel as the ‘national homeland of the Jewish people’.”It further states that a “united Jerusalem” is the capital of Israel and that Hebrew is the country's official language, stripping Arabic of its earlier designation as an official language but recognizing its “special status”.Turkey slams Israel's 'Jewish nation-state' lawThe legislation’s most controversial article, however, which would have paved the way for the creation of “Jewish-only” communities in Israel, was removed from the draft before the vote.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hailed the legislation, describing its adoption by the Knesset as a “defining moment for Zionism and Israel”.“One hundred and twenty-two years after [Zionist leader Theodore] Herzl articulated his vision, we have, with this law, determined the basic principle of our existence,” he said.Netanyahu went on to describe Israel as the only country in the Middle East that “respects and honors the rights of its people”.OutrageFollowing the vote, Arab lawmakers tore up copies of the bill while vocally criticizing its adoption, after which they were removed from the assembly.As he was leaving, Arab MP Ahmad Tibi, addressing Netanyahu, yelled: “You are afraid of our Arabic language -- that’s why you passed this racist law!”Netanyahu swiftly retorted: “How dare you talk this way about the only democracy in the Middle East?”Standing outside the assembly, Tibi described the legislation as the “final nail in the coffin of Israeli democracy”.Arab lawmaker Ayman Odeh, chairman of the Knesset’s Joint Arab List, released a statement in which he said: “Israel has declared it does not want us here. It has passed a law of Jewish supremacy and told us that we will always be second-class citizens.”EU expresses concern over Israel's Jewish nation-state lawBut, he added, “We refuse to be second-class citizens; we will not allow the majority to humiliate and destroy us.”“Netanyahu's regime is digging a pit of fear, racism and authoritarianism,” Odeh asserted. “But they can never erase us from the homeland.”Speaking to Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, MP Avi Dichter of Netanyahu’s Likud Party, who sponsored the bill, answered the bill’s Arab critics: “The most you can do is live among us as a national minority that enjoys equal individual rights -- but not equality as a national minority.”According to Israel’s official statistics bureau, the self-proclaimed Jewish state’s total population stood at some 8.5 million as of the end of last year, roughly 20 percent of whom were Arab.CondemnationSome Israeli politicians, too, voiced open condemnation of the legislation.Tamar Zandberg, chairwoman of the left-wing Meretz Party, described the law as “shameful”.“Zionism is no longer a national movement, but a forceful nationalism that humiliates the minority and establishes racial supremacy,” she said.The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) likewise condemned the bill and its passage.PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat described it as “the consolidation and extension of [Israel’s] racist colonial legacy based on ethnic cleansing”.“With this law,” Erekat said, “Israel has isolated itself from the international community.”Israel adopts divisive Jewish nation-state lawPLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi, for her part, said in a statement that the national law “gives license to apartheid, discrimination, ethnic cleansing and sectarianism at the expense of the Palestinian people”.She added: “Such racist and prejudicial legislation is illegal by all standards of international law, democracy, humanity, justice, tolerance and inclusion.”Gaza-based resistance movement Hamas, meanwhile, said the legislation’s adoption “officially legitimizes Israeli racism”.“This law targets the existence of Palestinians -- and their historical rights -- in their own land,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.He added: “These extremist laws could not have been adopted [by the Knesset] if the world was not silent in the face of Israel’s ongoing crimes and unlimited U.S. support for Israel’s racist and extremist policies.”
‘Extremist’ Israeli legislation draws storm of outrage
“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,” it added.
New Israel Fund a U.S.-based non-profit organization, described the legislation as “tribalism as its worst.”
"It is a slap in the face of Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel," it said in a statement.
"Legislation that identifies first- and second-class citizens has no place in a democracy and danger to Israel’s future,” it added.
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the head of Union of Reform Judaism, the largest Jewish denomination around the world, said the law would do an “enormous damage” to Israel.
The American Jewish Committee, a prominent Jewish advocacy groups in the United States, for its part, said it was disappointed by the law.
“It puts at risk the commitment of Israel's founders to build a country that is both Jewish and democratic,” it said.