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After a 48-hour lightning trip to Israel in which he told Israeli leaders of the Jewish Diaspora's distress on the nation-state's controversial draft law, Jerry Silverman said that "we are in trouble." he left the country "disappointed".
Silverman, president and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, told Haaretz on Monday that despite last-minute changes to the bill, he was still deeply concerned about the current version of the law, which would legally define Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.
"The nation-state bill in its current form falls short of our expectations of Israel, a prosperous democracy," he said. "We appreciate that Knesset members and other leaders were open to listening to our concerns, but the bill is still disappointing."
The concerns of diaspora leaders, including Silverman (who runs all Jewish community philanthropies across the United States), are focused on several contentious clauses.
The first of these is a clause that originally said, "The state will work to preserve the special bond between [Israel] and the Jewish people everywhere." Following pressure from ultra-Orthodox parties last week, this wording was changed to read: "The state will work in the diaspora to preserve the special bond between [Israel] and the Jewish people."
The government's approval to change the clause by deleting "everywhere" and specifying "Diaspora" is considered an effort to ensure that the bill, as it pbades and becomes a fundamental law can not be interpreted as guaranteeing Jewish religious pluralism in Israel. . This could potentially affect the decisions of the High Court of Justice on the burning issues of Israel-Diaspora such as conversion, marriage and prayer arrangements at the Wailing Wall.
"The language is condescending and clearly shows that Israel is responsible for the unity of the Jewish people in the diaspora only," said Silverman. "We are disappointed that the change [by the ultra-Orthodox parties] was accepted and made the final bill.
"We think this way not only because it will have a negative effect on the Jewish community in the diaspora, but because it will have a negative effect on Israel," said Silverman.
Another worrying clause is that which originally indicated that the state would allow groups to establish separate communities "on the basis of religion and nationality", allowing thus the establishment of exclusively Jewish communities.
As a result of widespread criticism from many political figures – including President Reuven Rivlin – and legal experts, a compromise on the wording was found among coalition members. The article now reads: "The state views developing Jewish communities as a national value and will act to encourage, promote and establish them.
But North American Jewish leaders remain unhappy with this new project. They also believe that the very public debate on the original clause on segregated communities – which pointed out that the key parties of the coalition have endorsed blatant discrimination – has damaged Israel's image in the past. international scale.
Another clause against which Jewish leaders oppose would devalue Arabic from an official language to a language with a "special status" in Israel. Here too, diaspora leaders believe that the pbadage of the bill as a whole would create negative perceptions worldwide of state-sanctioned discrimination against nearly a quarter of the world's population. population of the country.
Silverman said that he was "grateful for" the opportunity to meet the various Knesset leaders, ministers and people from the Prime Minister's Office, expressing our opinion on the aspects of the bill that we found difficult ".
He said that he was not able to "directly" meet and speak with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but spoke with officials in his office.
When asked if he believed that the North American Jewish community opposed the bill in its entirety, Silverman replied, "Israel is a sovereign nation. I will not criticize the bill. "
He added: "How can I oppose, for example, a clause stating that" Hatikva "is the national anthem? What I am challenging are these aspects of the bill. which could have indirect consequences for the diaspora. "
[Netanyahou] said Monday that the government had plans to adopt the nation-state bill by Wednesday when the Knesset will close its summer vacation .
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