180 Israeli writers ask Netanyahu to deny the law on nationality



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Some 180 novelists, poets, playwrights, screenwriters and other literary figures on Saturday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of the Knesset to rescind the law on nationality and amend the surrogacy law.

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  • Read the full letter and see the complete list of signatories here

"We-writers, writers, playwrights, academic scholars and members of the Israeli arts and literary community – expressing our greatest shock and dismay, in light of the recent laws pbaded by the Israeli Knesset under your leadership, "they wrote in a letter to the prime minister.

Among the signers of the public statement, which has been translated into English and Arabic, are: the authors Amos Oz, David Grossman, Yehoshua AB, Savyon Liebrecht, Eshkol Nevo, Orly Castel-Bloom, Judith Katzir, Etgar Keret , Alon Hilu, Shir Smadar, Shalev Zeruya, Noa Yedlin, Yael Dayan and Prof. Ariel Hirschfeld; the poets Agi Mishol, Ronny Someck, Elias Cohen, Shimon Buzaglo and Navit Barel; writers Edna Mazia, Hillel Mittelpunkt and Shemi Zarhin; actress Hana Azoulay-Hasfari; and translator Halit Yeshurun, among others.

  A. B. Yehoshua and Amoz Oz (Photo: Van Leer Institute of Jerusalem)

A. B. Yehoshua and Amoz Oz (Photo: Van Leer Jerusalem Institute)

The public statement was launched by Israeli gay writer Ilan Sheinfeld, a father of twins born in India through maternity of substitution and currently resident of Tuval in Galilee.

"According to a law recently pbaded by the Knesset and entitled" Israel: The National State of the Jewish People ", Israel is now defined as a nation-state for Jews only . , with a quasi-constitutional status, which explicitly authorizes racial and religious discrimination, cancels the status of Arabic as an official language alongside Hebrew, does not mention democracy as the basis of the regime and does not mention Equality as a Fundamental Value 19659013]

"As such, this Basic Law is undemocratic and goes against the definition of the state of Israel as the Democratic state; moreover, it contradicts the Declaration of Independence, on the basis of which Israel was founded. These are two things that the Knesset does not have the right to do, "wrote the writers to the Prime Minister in their letter

<img src = "https://images1.ynet.co.il/PicServer5/2018/07/19/8667126/866705401001094640360no.jpg" border = "0" width = "640" hm = "0" title = "Likud ministers and MKs celebrate Nationality Law pbadage with a selfie" (Photo: Amit Shabi) "alt =" Likud ministers and MPs celebrate the pbadage of nationality law with a selfie Ministers and MPs celebrate the pbadage

The authors also lamented the surrogacy law, noting that "the Knesset also amended the law on who are eligible to receive the services of". a surrogate carrier, including single women who have a medical problem preventing them from having a child, but exclude single men and same-bad couples. "

" These two laws exclude Christian and Muslim Arabs (including Bedouins), Druze and Circbadians, and violate the LGBTQ community's right to parenthood. They are part of a long list of actions of the various governments of the state of Israel that you have led, from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to date, and which unfairly penalize the most excluded and disadvantaged sectors of Jewish and Israeli society, including Reformed and Conservative Judaism, Arabs (including Bedouins), Druze and Circbadian minorities, the sick and the elderly, the survivors of the Holocaust and the disabled, single women, Ethiopian Jews and many others. "

During your years in power, you and the governments have constantly eroded the foundations of our Jewish democratic country," they accused, "You damaged relations between Israel and the Jewish community in the United States; you have sentenced huge populations to persistent poverty and hardship, and you knowingly and deliberately damaged the Israeli education system, public diplomacy, culture and the economy, defense and welfare.

"In doing so, you have done serious damage to Israeli society, but the most serious damage has affected the values ​​of equality and mutual accountability on which the Israeli society is based and from which it derives. his strength."

 Arab MPs Protest Knesset's Nationality Law (Photo: Amit Shabi)

Arab MPs Protest in Knesset (Photo: Amit Shabi)

The writers claim "the immediate repeal of the nationality law, which has created a gap between Israeli society and the Jewish community of the United States, discriminates against Arabs (including Bedouins), the Druze and Circbadians and harms the coexistence of the Jewish majority of Israel with its minorities

We demand your immediate response to the call for equality on behalf of LGBTQ community members. It is unthinkable for the state of Israel to stand between a person and his natural desire to become a parent and to establish a family. "

They concluded their letter by saying that "crimes and misdemeanors properly defined as such by law fall under the jurisdiction of a court.On the other hand, sins that are sadly written in the law by elected legislators – the sins that undermine the heart of the existence of the Jewish people and their homeland – must be judged by intellectuals and by the court of history.

"Please, stop your government and your coalition members from flogging the minorities that create the colorful mosaic that is Israeli society and help guarantee its existence Do it now!"

 LGBT Protests Against the Law on the

"The public statement that I formulated knowingly and willfully binds the opposition to the law on nationality with the opposition to the surrogacy law, "Ilan Sheinfeld said.

"In my opinion, the LGBTQ community of Israel, in its efforts that transcend borders and sectors of the population, and continues to receive unprecedented support from all segments of the Israeli public, has sparked a much greater struggle.It is the struggle for equal rights and mutual accountability in Israel, all of which are weak and excluded sectors of Israeli society, including members of the community LGBTQ and all those who have been wronged by the law, the right of nationality. "

 Ilan Sheinfeld (Photo: Molly Naim)

Ilan Sheinfeld (Photo: Molly Naim)

The Israeli author AB Yehoshua, one of the signatories, said Ynet that the law on nationality is "useless and harmful".

"What was the point of this concussion?" he was wondering. "Why start to anger the whole world?" Suddenly they (the government) discovered that they were neglecting the Druze, there are also Bedouin and Christian Arabs in the army, a kind of insane caprice. "

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