Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked on Sunday warned of an “earthquake” if Israel’s High Court
of Justice struck down the widely-contested Jewish nation-state law.
In an interview with Army Radio Shaked explained that she did not believe the court had the authority to constitutionally quash the legislation given it was passed as a Basic Law.
“High Court justices are very serious and professional people,” she said. “The Knesset is the
constituent assembly, which defines and determines the basic laws. [The justices] have to
interpret the laws in accordance with the basic laws, and I don’t believe a majority on the
Supreme Court would take such a step.”
parliament last week, speaks of Israel as the historic homeland of the Jews and says they
have a "unique" right to self-determination within its borders.
Israel, which lacks a traditional constitution, holds its basic laws as preeminent, as they are
meant to guide the judiciary and require a supra-majority in parliament in order to be overturned.
“I very much hope this doesn’t happen, and I don’t believe it will,” Shaked added about the
possibility of an court intervention. “Such a move would cause an earthquake between different authorities.
Shaked continued to defend the law which has received a barrage a criticism from non-Jewish
minorities within Israel, Arab leaders and other international figures.
“There is nothing revolutionary in this specific law. It contains values that the state was founded
on, values of settlement, immigration and national identity. There is a consensus about these
values,” she told Army Radio.
The law's backers say it strengthens the state's status as a homeland for the Jewish people
and note it was backed by a slim majority of the country's lawmakers. Polls published earlier
this week found that just over half of voters support the legislation.
Arab citizens, who make up some 17.5 percent of Israel's more than eight million population,
have strongly criticized the law, particularly those from Israel's 150,000-strong Druze community, who, unlike other Arabs who may volunteer, are subject to compulsory service in the military
or police alongside Jewish Israelis. Israel’s Druze, however, feel the law has legally
marginalized their civic identity.
Two clauses of the law have drawn particular concern: one which demotes Arabic from an
official language of the state to one with "special status"; and another which encourages the
promotion of “Jewish settlements”.
In order to quell backlash against the law, Netanyahu's office has proposed three additional
laws that would establish the special status of the Arab minority communities in Israel, in
particular the Druze and Circassian populations.
Amid the criticism, Shaked said that the law does not harm minorities but added that measures should be taken to “deal with the pain of the Druze community.” She added that there was no
need “to categorize them as leftists or as those who want to undermine the government.”
Her comments followed on from a proposal announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
that he would form a special ministerial committee to “honor that bond” with the Druze
community.
“No one has harmed them [the Druze] and no one intends to harm, but without a nation-state
law it is impossible to fortify Israel’s status as a Jewish state,” he said whilst addressing his
weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.
Since the laws’ passage, the High Court of Justice has received three petitions urging the body
to quash the law given its discrimination.
On Saturday 50,000 people gathered in Tel Aviv’s central Rabin Square to express their
opposition to the law. Protesters united under the banner of preserving the importance of the
democratic character of Israel, which has come under question for many since the laws
passage.
1 comment:
these traitorous leftist swines in those black robes need to be hanging from the gallows as common traitors
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