Nation-State Bill Becomes Law: Arab Citizens, State-Minority and Jewish-Arab Relations

After being proposed and postponed for nearly a decade, the Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People, (see English translation here) was passed into law on July 19th, 2018 (62:55). While significantly revised from its original version, this law remains highly controversial for tipping the delicate balance between Israel’s dual commitments to its democratic and Jewish character. Arab citizens, Israel’s largest non-Jewish population, have been vehemently opposed to the legislation out of concerns that it diminishes the promise of equal citizenship and legitimizes discrimination by law and in public discourse.

On July 30th, 2018 the Task Force hosted a conference call with Dr. Amir Fuchs, from the Israeli Democracy Institute, and Mohammad Darawshe, from Givat Haviva, for a discussion of the current and potential implications of this law for Israeli democracy, and for Israel’s Arab society in terms of status, sense of belonging and related discourse.

A Task Force briefing document on the passage of the bill is available, here.