By Abra Forman, Breaking Israel News—
A new nation-state bill declaring Israel the “national home of the Jewish people” passed its first hurdle in the Knesset on Sunday, marking the first time that an attempt to entrench the Jewish character of the state of Israel into law has advanced to this stage.
The bill, which declares that “the right to realize self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people”, also proclaims Jerusalem the country’s capital.
In addition, it downgrades the Arabic language from an official to a non-official language of the state, albeit with “special status.”
“The national language is Hebrew,” the bill states.
Originally proposed by MK Avi Dichter (Likud) in 2011, the bill came up for ministerial consideration again in 2015 at the height of the most recent wave of terror which swept the country.
At the time, Dichter argued that the bill was more important than ever in the face of terrorism aimed against the very nature of the state, as “the Palestinians no longer hide their goal to erase the nation-state of the Jewish people.”
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/87698/new-nation-state-bill-states-israel-national-home-jewish-people-revokes-arabics-official-language-status/#HGhq3OmxHTXJ19tY.99