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Tel Aviv.- The Israeli parliament on Wednesday night approved a controversial law that defines Israel as the homeland of the Jews and degrades the Arabic, which ceases to be an official language and has a "special status" .
The legislation, which has provoked strong criticism both inside and outside the country, defines Israel as a national state of the Jewish people, reaffirms the status of Jerusalem as the capital of the country. Israel and says that "only Jews have the right to exercise their self-determination in the state of Israel." Moreover, he only recognizes Hebrew as the official language. About 20% of Israelis are Arabs and 75% are Jews.
Of the 120 deputies, 62 voted for and 55 against the new law, Israeli media reported. Other legislators were neither present nor absent.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of a "key moment in the history of Zionism" and said that Israel "respects the individual rights of all its citizens." "Today, we legislate that it is our anthem, it is our language and it is our flag."
However, Israeli Arabs, opposition politicians and civil liberties groups criticized the law.
Arab MPs protested aloud and in a symbolic gesture broke the bill
"Separation, discrimination and racism are now enshrined in law," said Ayman Odeh, head of the common list, a political alliance. eminently Arab parties. The original text of the "Nationality Law" has been substantially softened. To gain broad support, the most controversial clause was removed, which stipulated that municipalities could exclude people on the basis of their religion or nationality, among other things. Instead, the approved version states that "the state considers the development of Jewish municipalities as a national value and will encourage and encourage it."
The EU yesterday showed its concern about the law approved. "We are concerned, we have expressed this concern and we will continue to work with the Israeli authorities in this context," said Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for the High Representative for Foreign Affairs of the EU, Federica Mogherini. Asked that the law could be an obstacle to the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, the spokeswoman said that "it can further complicate the way" towards a solution.
PLP General Secretary (PLO), Saeb Erakat, estimated on Twitter that the text legalized "officially apartheid".
After the approval of the law, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared that Jerusalem was "the eternal capital of the State of Palestine". The Palestinian news agency Wafa
Meanwhile, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban promised "zero tolerance" with anti-Semitism before meeting Netanyahu, who celebrated the millions of dollars invested by the Hungary in the renovation of synagogues. 19659012]
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