Hidden context: Why did Israel suddenly formalize its definition as a Jewish, democratic state ?

by David Bedein


Media coverage of the new Israeli government initiative to define itself as both a Jewish and democratic state has not touched upon why this seemingly surprising legislative initiative was introduced at this time by the government of Israel.

The hidden context of this legislation is growing power and influence of the 2007 Haifa Declaration,http://www.mada-research.org/UserFiles/file/haifaenglish.pdf, which represents the position of more than thirty leading Israeli Arab organizations who have coordinated a systematic effort to undermine the Jewish nature of the state of Israel as a Jewish state.

The Haifa Declaration signees such as Ittijah, I’lam, Mossawa and Adalah have openly stated that its goal is to replace Zionism as the basis of the state of Israel, with the implementation of the “right of return” for Palestinian Arab refugees and their descendants who now wallow in the indignity of teeming UNRWA refugee camps who would be encouraged to reclaim lands lost in the 1948 war.

Ms. Hanin Zoabi, currently a member of the Israeli Knesset with the Israeli Arab “Balad” party, the former director of I’lam, the Israeli Arab media center, often repeats thr mantra that she is not loyal to Israel and says, that as the director of I’lam, she enthusiastically signed and embraced the Haifa Declaration which a call for Israel to cease a Jewish identity and to abandon “its destructive role towards the peoples of the Region.”

Currently, Israel non profit organization law states that ‘A non profit organization shall not be registered if any of its objectives negates the existence of the democratic character of the state of Israel.’”

If the amendment to Israel’s basic law would change, Israel non profit organization law would declare that ‘A non profit organization shall not be registered if any of its objectives negates the existence of the democratic AND JEWISH character of the state of Israel.”

In other words, this proposed legislation could potentially block the flow of funds from the New Israel Fund and the European Union to Israeli Arab organizations that signed on to the Haifa Declaration, a document which amounts to nothing less than an insurrection against the raison d’etre of the state of Israel.

David Bedein

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.