Folks on Israel's Right are up in arms over Defense Minister Benny Gantz's plan to challenge the Nationality Law with a new bill on equality. The Nation-State Law, officially known as the Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People, was passed in 2018 as yet another attempt to reaffirm Israel's status as a Jewish state. In my opinion, it is an unnecessary law that only serves to alienate Israel's non-Jewish citizens. In fact, this law changes practically nothing, and the only reason it exists is because right-wing politicians like former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and current Prime Minister Naftali Bennett continually strive to compete over who the bigger Zionist is.
The introduction of the Nation-State Law is not the first time Israel's lawmakers have taken steps to try and reaffirm the country's Jewish identity, and it definitely won't be the last. I'm not surprised, however, that our politicians frequently strive to reinforce Israel's Jewishness, as this kind of behavior is consistent with countries and cultures that face an existential threat. And few would argue that Israel does not face an existential threat. It is a tiny Jewish state in a region dominated by Arab and Muslim states, many of which are hostile and seek to wipe it off the map.
Nevertheless, I would argue that Israel does not need to take further steps to strengthen the country's Jewish identity, as it already has plenty of features that more than adequately preserve its Jewishness. We have a Jewish flag, a Jewish coat of arms, and several Jewish national institutions. We even have religiously-based Jewish laws, which many Israelis, including myself, really don't care for. Hence, I really don't think that Israel's lawmakers need to waste their time conjuring up laws to prop up the country's Jewish identity when they could be tackling the country's real problems instead.
One of these real problems is the treatment of Israel's Arab population. Now just to be fair, Arabs in Israel are treated far better than in countries in which they form the majority. Moreover, Israel certainly does a much better job at preserving the rights of its ethnic and religious minorities than its neighbors. Still, Israeli Arabs are generally worse off than Israeli Jews, which is the reason that many of them do not feel as if they are equal citizens of the country. And I would contend that if Israel's leaders fail to address the problems of the Arab sector, particularly those of a socioeconomic nature, more young Israeli Arabs will be prone to indoctrination by terrorists, who will use them to commit acts of terror against Jews similar to the attacks that have plagued the country in the last few weeks. Thus, as ironic as it sounds, improving the lives of Israel's non-Jewish citizens will likely be more effective than making laws to reinforce the country's Jewish identity, because it will make Israel a safer place for Jews to live
Jason Shvili is a freelance writer in Toronto, Canada.
