{"id":9397,"date":"2018-07-19T12:23:51","date_gmt":"2018-07-19T12:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kohelet.org.il\/article\/get-over-it-israel-is-the-jewish-state\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T09:01:52","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T09:01:52","slug":"get-over-it-israel-is-the-jewish-state","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/get-over-it-israel-is-the-jewish-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Get Over It\u2014Israel Is the Jewish State"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Let the hand-wringing and denunciations begin. On Thursday Israel finally expressed in constitutional law the basic achievement of Zionism: Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people. In the seven years since the new provision was first proposed, it has attracted a barrage of criticism from the U.S. and Europe. Foreign politicians have demanded Israel not pass the law, and they have not been mollified by the removal of most of its disputed provisions. A Monday headline at Foreign Policy warned that Israel was \u201cdebating democracy itself.\u201d Arab Knesset members ripped up copies of the bill after its passage. One called it \u201cthe official beginning of fascism and apartheid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In reality, Israel\u2019s Basic Law would not be out of place among the liberal democratic constitutions of Europe\u2014which include similar provisions that have not aroused controversy. The law does not infringe on the individual rights of any Israeli citizen, including Arabs; nor does it create individual privileges. The illiberalism here lies with the law\u2019s critics, who would deny the Jewish state the freedom to legislate like a normal country.<\/p>\n