PM to push Basic Law that will define Israel as 'Jewish state'

by Herb Keinon

In seemingly veiled response to US Secretary of State John Kerry's apartheid remarks, Netanyahu says that personal and civil rights of all Israelis – Jews and non-Jews – will be forever preserved.

 

PM Binyamin Netanyahu at Cabinet meeting. 

Photo: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced on Thursday that he will push forward foundational legislation of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people.

Speaking in Tel Aviv's Independence Hall, where David Ben-Gurion declared the country's independence some 66 years ago, Netanyahu said the Declaration of Independence placed the Jewish identity of the state as one of the foundations of the life of the country. 

 

"Unfortunately," he said, "there are those who do not recognize this natural right. They seek to shake the historic, more and legal justification of Israel as the national home of our people."

Netanyahu, whose comments come five days before Independence Day, said that one of his primary aims as prime minister is to fortify the status of Israel as "the national homeland of our people." A Knesset basic law on this matter, he said, would provide it with an important legal anchor.

"The State of Israel will always preserve full personal and civil equality for all citizens of the State of Israel, Jews and non-Jews alike, in a Jewish-democratic state," he said. ."

Just days after US Secretary of State warned that if a two-state solution was not achieved, Israel could become an apartheid state, Netanyahu said that in Israel personal and civil equality is ensured for all, something that distinguishes it in the region, and also beyond..

Netanyahu said he could not understand how those calling on Israel to make concessions in Judea and Samaria because of an "understandable desire" to prevent a bi-national state, then are opposed to defining Israel as the national home of the Jews.

"It is impossible to argue for the established of a national home for Palestinians in order to preserve the Jewish character of Israel, and at the same time oppose recognizing Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people," he said. Doing so, he added, would in the long run call into question Israel's right to exist.

Herb Keinon

Source: http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/PM-to-push-Basic-Law-that-will-define-Israel-as-Jewish-state-351057

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