Over the past several days many people have asked whether or not Im Tirtzu supports the newly adopted Nation-State Law, so we wanted to clarify: Im Tirtzu believes that this a long-overdue and important law for the State of Israel.
This law is 1 of 14 Basic Laws in Israel, which are intended to comprise of the chapters of Israel’s future constitution.
13 of the 14 Basic Laws discuss the democratic elements of the state and ensure equal rights for all of Israel’s citizens. Even the Basic Law declaring Jerusalem as Israel’s capital protects the city’s holy sites and ensures freedom of worship for every religion.
Before this law was passed, there was no Basic Law enshrining Israel’s Jewish character in law! The new law doesn’t detract in any way from the democratic nature of the state nor makes any non-Jewish citizens lesser. This law is merely one (important) thread in the tapestry of Basic Laws that already protects Israel’s democratic character.
In fact, under the law Arabic now has a “special status.” Despite what detractors of the law claim, there was never a law in Israel declaring Arabic as an official language – this was only something included in the British Mandate in 1922.
The outcry surrounding this matter-of-fact declaration (which, of course, has been instigated by the New Israel Fund and its NGOs) shows how much this law is needed to defend the Jewish character of Israel against our enemies from within and abroad who are trying to uproot it.
Because only Israel as a Jewish and democratic state will provide equal rights to all its citizens. Only Israel as a Jewish and democratic state will continue to be a light in the dark region of the Middle East.
Watch Im Tirtzu National Activist Coordinator, Tom Nisani, send a special message to our Druze brothers regarding the law.
