Government says it will push Jewish nation-state bill for irst vote soon

• By LAHAV HARKOV land, and reinforces many existing laws demands a decision and did not find an in a Basic Law, such as the flag, national answer in legislation or precedent, it The coalition plans to pass the con- anthem and national symbol and the should declare based on the principles troversial proposed Basic Law: Israel - right of any Jewish person to immigrate of liberty, justice, integrity and peace of Nation State of the Jewish People in a to Israel. Its opponents have raised con- Jewish heritage.” Jewish law is added to first reading this winter, without any cerns about articles that could bring the things the court should consider in significant changes to the original draft, changes, such as one saying the Supreme the latest draft. the government said on Sunday. Court should consider Jewish tradition The draft also includes a new article “The Jewish nation-state bill is one of if there is a case with no legal precedent. calling the Land of Israel the “histor- the most important laws the Knesset has Two particularly controversial sections ic homeland of the Jewish people, and ever dealt with and we plan to bring it to are one saying that Hebrew is the official a section that said the state will work a vote in this Knesset session,” said Tour- language while Arabic has special status, to “preserve the cultural and historic ism Minister Yariv Levin, whom Prime and one allowing “separate communal heritage of the Jewish people” among Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tasked settlements” that can be for one religion Diaspora Jewry now includes preserving with handling coalition negotiations on or nationality. religious heritage, as well. the bill. Levin said the bill “will be authorized Asked if hardly changing a draft from The Knesset winter session ends in late in a first reading in the draft that was one reading to the next makes his com- March 2018. agreed-upon between the heads of coali- mittee's work irrelevant, Ohana said, Likud MK Amir Ohana, who heads the tion parties, and in a format that match- “We will continue the discussions with legislative committee working on the es the principles in the original proposal a goal of reaching agreements - in the bill, told a meeting of coalition heads by MK [Avi] Dichter,” Levin said. YARIV LEVIN coalition as well - before the second (Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post) that the first reading is expected to take Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense and third readings. There are still many place in the next few weeks. Committee chairman Avi Dichter disagreements, which will be resolved Levin’s announcement came after coa- (Likud) first proposed the Jewish nation- law books before Israel’s 70th Indepen- before the second and third readings.” lition chairman David Bitan (Likud) said state bill in 2011. He thanked Levin and dence Day.” Similarly, Levin said that after the first in recent weeks that he does not see the Ohana “for pushing the nation-state bill The draft for a first reading is almost reading, “We will be able to make chang- bill going to a vote in the near future. I initiated so it’ll go to a first reading in identical to the draft that passed a pre- es if they will be acceptable for all coali- The Jewish nation-state bill declares the coming weeks. The bill I initiated is liminary reading. tion party heads and first and foremost that Israel is the nation-state of the Jew- the flagship bill for the Likud and the One notable change is to the section for the prime minister, who is personally ish people, and includes many declar- coalition. I and my friends in the Likud on the judiciary, which originally stated leading this bill.” ative elements about the Jewish home- will do everything so...it will be in the that if “a court has a legal question that Two matters are written into the com- mittee's current draft as “alternative drafts for discussion.” First is the bill's purpose. Currently, it says: “The purpose of this Basic Law is to protect the status of Israel as the nation- state of the Jewish people in order to anchor in a Basic Law the State of Israel's values as a Jewish and democratic state in the spirit of the principles declared in the establishment of the State of Israel.” The committee will discuss whether to write “Jewish state with a democrat- ic government,” instead of “Jewish and democratic state.” In addition, the controversial segment about Arabic having a special status and the right to access government services in Arabic may be replaced with: “This article will not harm the status given in practicality to the Arabic language before the beginning of this Basic Law.” Zionist Union MK Tzipi Livni, a vocal opponent of the bill, said: “The Likud needs to remove the photo of Herzl from the Knesset, the copy of the Declaration of Independence from their meeting room and the bust of [Likud ideological forebear Ze’ev] Jabotinsky from Likud headquarters. “No one should doubt that they do not represent Zionism today,” she tweeted.