{"id":9376,"date":"2018-07-18T16:08:10","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T16:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kohelet.org.il\/article\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T11:10:44","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T11:10:44","slug":"the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\/","title":{"rendered":"The Case for Israel&#8217;s Jewish State Law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Emmanuel Navon<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div>After 70 years of independence, Israel still lacks a written constitution. This is an anomaly, but not one that is going to be remedied any time soon because of unbridgeable gaps between Israel\u2019s political parties. Constitutions are the cornerstone of democracies; they define the identity and purpose of the state; they determine the powers of the three branches of government; and they protect individual rights. Israel has \u201cbasic laws\u201d that determine the powers of the three branches of government (such as Basic Law: The Knesset) and that protect individual rights (such as Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty), but not a basic law that defines the identity and purpose of the state. Basic Law: Israel Nation-State of the Jewish People was passed to fill that void.<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div>To some, filling this legal void was unnecessary since Israel is&nbsp;<em>de facto<\/em>&nbsp;a nation-state and since its Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel does define the identity of the country (\u201cWe hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state\u201d) and its purpose (the national independence of the Jewish people).&nbsp; In fact, passing this new basic law was necessary because of the judicial activism of Israel\u2019s High Court of Justice in the past two decades.<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div>In 1992, the Knesset passed two basic laws: one on \u201chuman dignity and liberty\u201d and one on \u201cfreedom of occupation.\u201d Justice Aharon Barak (who presided over the Supreme Court between 1995 and 2006) proclaimed a \u201cconstitutional revolution\u201d after the passing of these two basic laws. What Barak meant was that the High Court of Justice could now strike down laws passed by the Knesset if deemed \u201cunconstitutional\u201d (i.e. incompatible with the two new basic laws).&nbsp; Nowhere in the basic law does it say that the court is entitled to use them to strike down regular legislation. Yet Barak unilaterally granted that power to the court in a 1995 ruling.<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The \u201cconstitutional revolution\u201d has affected Israel\u2019s identity as a nation-state.\u00a0 The basic law on \u201chuman dignity and liberty\u201d states that Israel is a \u201cJewish and democratic state.\u201d But what happens when Jewish and democratic values conflict? No problem, Barak wrote in 1992: In case of a conflict, the word \u201cJewish\u201d shall be interpreted by the court \u201cwith the highest level of abstraction.\u201d In other words, it shall be ignored. Theoretically, the court could use in its rulings Israel\u2019s Declaration of Independence, which defines Israel as a Jewish state. Yet the court itself ruled in 1948 that the Declaration of Independence has no constitutional value.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Court\u2019s activism, combined with the \u201chighest level of abstraction\u201d with which Barak interpreted Israel\u2019s Jewishness, were soon felt. The court ruled that a Jew cannot purchase a plot of land in a Bedouin village (Avitan case, 1989), but that an Arab can build a house in a village established by the Jewish Agency (Ka\u2019adan case, 2000). The court was petitioned twice by NGOs (in 2006 and in 2012) to cancel Israel\u2019s citizenship law so as to impose on Israel the Palestinian \u201cright of return\u201d through the back door, via fictitious marriages. Though the court rejected both petitions, it did so with a razor-thin majority of six to five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other laws and symbols related to Israel\u2019s Jewish identity are not immune from petitions to the High Court of Justice. The \u201claw of return\u201d (which grants automatic immigration rights to Jews) might one day be struck down for being discriminatory; Israel\u2019s national anthem (which expresses the Jews\u2019 two-millennia faithfulness to their land) and flag (which only has a Jewish symbol) could be challenged in court for ignoring the feelings of the Arab minority; and taxpayers could petition the court against spending their money on the preservation of Jewish identity in the Diaspora. Until the passing of the basic law on Israel as a nation-state, the court had no constitutional basis to reject such petitions and to protect Israel\u2019s Jewishness. Now it does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Opponents of the law claim that declaring Hebrew the country\u2019s official language, while granting Arabic a \u201cspecial status,\u201d affects the rights of the Arab minority. Would they say the same of the French constitution, which establishes that \u201cThe language of the Republic is French\u201d (Article 2) while only recognizing \u201cregional languages\u201d as belonging to the \u201cpatrimony of France\u201d (Article 75-1)?\u00a0 Being a nation-state is compatible with the civic equality of minorities. Israel is no exception in that regard.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The right to national self-determination was recognized as a universal one by the League of Nations after World War One. The Jews are entitled to that right like any other nation. Unlike the United-States and Canada, but like most countries is the world (including in Europe), Israel is a nation-state. Yet the Jews\u2019 right to self-determination is still being challenged both internationally and domestically. Thanks to the nation-state basic law, Israel\u2019s Jewishness is no longer assailable at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(First published in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/Opinion\/The-case-for-Israels-Jewish-state-law-562869\">The Jerusalem Post<\/a>, July 18, 2018)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Until the passing of the basic law on Israel as a nation-state, the court had no constitutional basis to reject anti-Zionist petitions and to protect Israel\u2019s Jewishness. Now it does.","protected":false},"featured_media":9377,"template":"","article-category":[525],"custom-tags":[649,537,604,544,536],"ppma_author":[49],"class_list":["post-9376","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","article-category-publications","custom-tags-basic-law","custom-tags-israels-legal-system-and-laws","custom-tags-knesset","custom-tags-nation-state","custom-tags-nation-state-law"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Case for Israel&#039;s Jewish State Law - kohelet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Case for Israel&#039;s Jewish State Law - kohelet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Until the passing of the basic law on Israel as a nation-state, the court had no constitutional basis to reject anti-Zionist petitions and to protect Israel\u2019s Jewishness. Now it does.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kohelet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Kohelet.org.il\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-23T11:10:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/israeli-flags.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"259\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"194\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@koheletforum\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/en\\\/article\\\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/en\\\/article\\\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Case for Israel's Jewish State Law - kohelet\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/en\\\/article\\\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/en\\\/article\\\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/israeli-flags.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-18T16:08:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-23T11:10:44+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/en\\\/article\\\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/en\\\/article\\\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/en\\\/article\\\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/israeli-flags.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/israeli-flags.jpg\",\"width\":259,\"height\":194},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/en\\\/article\\\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Case for Israel&#8217;s Jewish State Law\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05dd \u05e7\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05dd \u05e7\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-\u05e7\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea-\u05e2\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea-SVG.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-\u05e7\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea-\u05e2\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea-SVG.svg\",\"width\":292,\"height\":459,\"caption\":\"\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05dd \u05e7\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kohelet.org.il\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/Kohelet.org.il\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/koheletforum\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Case for Israel's Jewish State Law - kohelet","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Case for Israel's Jewish State Law - kohelet","og_description":"Until the passing of the basic law on Israel as a nation-state, the court had no constitutional basis to reject anti-Zionist petitions and to protect Israel\u2019s Jewishness. Now it does.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\/","og_site_name":"kohelet","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Kohelet.org.il\/","article_modified_time":"2026-06-23T11:10:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":259,"height":194,"url":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/israeli-flags.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@koheletforum","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\/","name":"The Case for Israel's Jewish State Law - kohelet","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/israeli-flags.jpg","datePublished":"2018-07-18T16:08:10+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-23T11:10:44+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/israeli-flags.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/israeli-flags.jpg","width":259,"height":194},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/the-case-for-israels-jewish-state-law\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Case for Israel&#8217;s Jewish State Law"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/","name":"\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05dd \u05e7\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/#organization","name":"\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05dd \u05e7\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea","url":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-\u05e7\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea-\u05e2\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea-SVG.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-\u05e7\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea-\u05e2\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea-SVG.svg","width":292,"height":459,"caption":"\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05dd \u05e7\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Kohelet.org.il\/","https:\/\/x.com\/koheletforum"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/9376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-category?post=9376"},{"taxonomy":"custom-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/custom-tags?post=9376"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=9376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}