Proposed “Jewish State” Law a Threat to Israel’s Democracy

May 3, 2014

In the recent failed peace talks, Netanyahu demanded that the Palestinians accept the novel idea that Israel is a “Jewish State.” Palestinians’ refusal to accept that idea was understandable: first, the PLO had already recognized Israel’s right to exist; second, Israel did not require that admission from other states with which it signed peace agreements, notably Egypt and Jordan; third and most importantly, the Palestinians did not wish to disress their brethren, the Israeli Arabs, who already suffered discrimination in Israeli society. Yet today, with the peace talks having failed, Netanyahu’s government intends to make this position the law of the land. The proposed law, announced on May 2, will codify the permanent discrimination against Israel’s sizable non-Jewish (Arab) minority, which constitutes 20 percent of the population.   

Israel, as a homeland for the Jewish people, has prided itself in its democratic values. Americans appreciate the democratic character of Israel; it is one reason why the United States has supported Israel through thick and thin; it has been a bastion of democracy in a historically undemocratic part of the world. Today we take it for granted that democratic states should provide for equal rights for all its citizens. But one does not have to look far to find democracies that legally and systematically denied a class of citizens those rights—the American South during the Jim Crow era, for example. The “Jewish State” law, which would legally and permanently disenfranchise Israel’s Arab minority, threatens to degrade Israeli society in just such a way. 

Will Israel’s Arabs sit quiet and accept this new state of affairs? Will they accept their disenfranchisement lying down? Netanyahu built a wall to keep out the Palestinians, but what will he do if Israel’s own citizens begin an internal intifada? It could happen. 

Eventually the United States rose above the traditions of hate and discrimination, though it took the Civil Rights movement to make it happen. It came about through the combined efforts of Americans, including many Jews. One was Andrew Goodman, murdered in Mississippi in 1964. Another was Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, an intellectual leader of American Jewry who marched arm and arm with Dr. Martin Luther King. 

Jews are proud of their tradition of standing with the oppressed and fighting for justice; it is a tradition stemming from the biblical prophets of old. Israeli Jews must not forsake these values. At a time when the government of Israel is trying to legalize inequality, we would hope that freedom-loving Israelis will rise up in protest. In 1960s Jews and Blacks marched together for equality on the streets of Selma Alabama and gathered en masse for Martin Luther King’s March on Washington. Today, Jews and Arabs may have to march hand in hand for equality and democratic values on the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.