In his book "The Judge in a Democracy," former Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak writes that Israel's values as a Jewish, democratic country have a supra-legal standing and influence how all Israel's Basic Laws are interpreted, thereby influencing the legality of all laws. The Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People is far from such a broad-based declaration. The first clause of the bill stipulates that "the State of Israel is the national home of the Jewish people; wherein the Jewish people fulfills its yearning for self-determination in accordance with its historical and cultural heritage." The right of self-determination is "unique to the Jewish people." The bill also states that this Basic Law and all other laws "shall be interpreted in conformity with this provision." Some argue that this law would supersede all other laws, but in effect the wording is very moderate, certainly in comparison to the famous clause of curtailment in the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty of 1992, which allows the courts to strike down any law that they don't like. The bill basically deals with declarations, most of which are already enshrined in law: principles of the Declaration of Independence; the flag; national symbols; the capital of the nation; the links to the Jewish people; the right of return; Independence Day, days of remembrance, etc. In contrast to the ridiculous claims by those who seek to undermine the foundations of Israel's existence, this bill makes a special attempt to protect the personal and collective rights of Arabs in Israel. Although no law has ever given official status to the Arabic language, the bill states that while "Hebrew is the state language," Arabic "shall have a special standing." It further states that "each resident of Israel, regardless of his religion or nationality, shall be entitled to strive for the preservation of his culture, heritage, language and identity" and that "holy sites shall be protected against desecration and all other damage." Anyone who claims that the bill is designed to attack minorities' individual or collective rights is telling a bald-faced lie to block legislation that would declaratively cement the State of Israel's existence. Most democratic states are nation-states. The right of self-determination is a fundamental right recognized by international law going way back. It is a right no less important than other human rights. And the nation-state bill carefully and impressively insists upon this. Professor Abraham Diskin is the former head of the Israel Political Science Association.
