Israeli Parliament agrees with controversial law on "Jewish nation-state"

The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, approved Thursday a controversial law that officially qualifies Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people. 62 deputies voted for and 55 against, reports the Israeli daily Haaretz . According to critics, the law disadvantages the Arab minority in Israel.

The law states that "Israel is the historical homeland of the Jewish people, they have the exclusive right to national self-determination". He also states that a "unified Jerusalem" is the capital and that only Hebrew is the official language. Arabic gets a special status with which it can still be used in Israeli institutions.

It is a so-called "fundamental law". Although it is not as extensive as a constitution, it has a semi-constitutional status. Probably, it will be challenged by the Supreme Court of Israel

"Apartheid Act".

"This is a decisive moment in the annals of the history of Zionism and the history of the state of Israel," Prime Minister Netanyahu responds to the Knesset. mood. Several Arab parliamentarians broke print versions of the legislation and then had to leave the Chamber. Two politicians called Netanyahu that he had "put in place an apartheid law, a racist law".

Incidentally, it is a watered down version of a previous bill. This would have allowed communities to be established solely for Jews. Now, it's a bit more ambiguous: "The state sees the development of Jewish institutions of national significance, and will encourage and promote this." He also included the proposition that courts should follow Jewish ritual legislation when there is no legal precedent.

In total, about 1.8 million Arabs live in Israel, about 20 percent of the population of nine million.