© Corinna Kern/ReutersIsraelis from the Druze minority join a rally to protest the Jewish nation-state law in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv last week. The sign in Hebrew reads, “The future of our children is shared.”
A group of prominent Israeli Arabs, including members of the Israeli parliament - Knesset - has
submitted a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court protesting against the recently adopted "Jewish nation-state" law, which they claim to be violating human rights, the
Times of Israel newspaper reported on Tuesday.
"[The law is] racist, massively harmful to fundamental human rights and contravenes international human rights norms, especially those forbidding laws that constitute a racist constitution... Any law that denies Palestinians their civil and national rights is racist, colonialist and illegitimate," the petition said, as quoted by the outlet.
The newspaper added that the nation-state law had been adopted as basic law,
meaning that it would be harder to repeal it, compared to an ordinary law.The outlet added that
three petitions had already been filed to the Supreme Court demanding to repeal the law as unconstitutional.The law has been widely criticized at the international level as well, with the
Russian Foreign Ministry saying that it was hampering international efforts aimed at resolving the long-standing conflict between Israel and Palestine and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calling Israel the "most fascist and racist state" in the world.
The law, which was passed by Knesset in July, stipulates that only Jews living in the country have a right to self-determination while Arabs, who make up about 20 percent of the country's population, have been deprived of the same right. The law also declares Hebrew the only official language with Arabic losing the statues and becoming a language with a "special status."
Comment: Pushback to repeal the Jewish nation-state law has begun and promises to be a contentious fight.
From
Washington Post:
Members of Israel's nearly 150,000-strong Druze community and representatives of Israel's Bedouins, both minorities known for their loyal service in the country's military, have already lodged legal petitions to the court.
Over the weekend, Druze leaders led a protest that drew tens of thousands to Tel Aviv's Rabin Square, where a former head of the Mossad intelligence agency, a former Israel Defense Forces chief and the mayor of Tel Aviv were among those to speak in opposition to the law.
So far, at least two Druze military officers have quit the army, while an Arab lawmaker who said that the law "oppresses me and oppresses the population that sent me to the Knesset" resigned from parliament. Vocal opposition has also come from the international community and Jewish groups abroad.
Other than now in Israel, "there is no constitution in the world today containing a clause that determines that the state belongs to one ethnic group or that a given state is exclusive to a certain ethnic group," said Tuesday's petition, which was submitted by the Israeli human rights group Adalah and also signed by the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel and the National Committee of Arab Mayors.
The petition called on the Israeli Supreme Court to annul the law, arguing that it also violates the United Nations charter by denying the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. The law states that "the right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people."
Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, who has been pushing to curb the powers of Israel's Supreme Court, has said that if the high court strikes down the law, the result would be an "earthquake" that would begin "a war between branches of government."
The Druze, unlike most Arab Israelis, are subject to mandatory national service in Israel. The law has stirred calls for that to end.
See also:
Comment: Pushback to repeal the Jewish nation-state law has begun and promises to be a contentious fight.
From Washington Post: See also: