Israel moves closer to declaring Jewish state

Cabinet approves controversial law that critics say is undemocratic and could sideline Arab population.

The Israeli justice minister Tzipi Livni, left, and finance minister Yair Lapid, right, opposed the bill approved by the cabinet on November 23, 2014. Jim Hollander / AP Photo

JERUSALEM // The Israeli cabinet has approved a contentious bill to officially define it as the nation-state of the Jewish people, a move that looks to further inflame tensions with Arab Israelis and Palestinians and potentially shake up the ruling coalition government.

The bill, which still needs to be passed in parliament, ostensibly looks to define Israel’s existing Jewish nature into law. But its various versions have drawn accusations that it will undermine the country’s democratic character, and some rights groups have even denounced it as racist.

In its current form, the bill calls for recognising Israel’s Jewish character, institutionalising Jewish law as a basis for legislation and delisting Arabic as an official language.

Arabs make up about 20 percent of Israel’s population and strongly oppose the bill.

The cabinet vote comes at a time of soaring tensions between Arabs and Jews and a wave of violent attacks, including one last at a Jerusalem synagogue in which two Palestinians killed five people with guns and meat cleavers before being shot dead.

The Israeli government vowed to respond with harsh new measures, including a proposal to strip Palestinian attackers of their residency rights. Israel has already resumed a controversial policy of demolishing Palestinian attackers’ homes.

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the nationality bill was needed to anchor both Israel’s Jewish and democratic nature, at a time when he said many were challenging Israel’s existence.

“There are those who would like the democratic to prevail over the Jewish and there are those who would like the Jewish to prevail over the democratic,” he said. “In the principles of the law that I will submit today both of these values are equal and both must be considered to the same degree.”

Officials said the legislation would be brought to parliament on Wednesday for preliminary ratification.

Palestinians have rejected Mr Netanyahu’s demand they recognise Israel as a Jewish state, saying that could deny Palestinian refugees the right of return to homes they left or were forced to flee during Israeli-Arab wars.

The vote on the bill set off a stormy cabinet session in which two of his most centrist coalition partners voted against the bill and voiced fierce opposition, claiming that at this sensitive juncture it would probably escalate tensions.

The finance minister Yair Lapid, who heads the centrist Yesh Atid party, called it “a bad law, which is badly worded”. After voting against the bill, his faction held an emergency meeting to discuss further steps. Justice minister Tzipi Livni of the Hatnuah movement also opposed the bill.

The recent unrest has centered around the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, a site considered holy by Muslims and Jews.

Palestinians fear that Israel is plotting to take over the site and are also upset about Israeli restrictions that have limited access for Muslim worshippers on security grounds.

The Arab League has called an extraordinary meeting on Saturday to discuss the latest unrest.

The meeting of foreign ministers, which will be attended by Palestinan president Mahmoud Abbas, will also discuss Palestinian plans to seek “membership in UN agencies”, the League’s deputy chief Ahmed Ben Helli said in Cairo.

* Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse