The Ministerial Legislation Committee of the Israeli government on Sunday unanimously approved the proposed “national state” law, which states that “Israel” is the state of Jewish nationalism, and that no one has the right to self-determination other than the Jewish people.
The law was passed yesterday, four years after it was first introduced by Knesset Member Avi Dichter, who introduced the law when he was a member of Kadima, before moving to the Likud party.
The proposed law, which will be approved by the Ministerial Legislation Committee calls upon all the coalition blocs to support it when voting in the Knesset to define Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and that Hebrew is the official language, and reducing the Arabic language status, which is so far under the mandatory laws an official language.
The last item, for example, means that the state and its institutions will no longer have to publish all that is published in Arabic. For another example, the public institutions and the Ministry of Communications are not required to place signs and publications in Arabic.
The ratification of the draft law in the Ministerial Committee yesterday came in preparation to put it for a vote on it next week by the preliminary reading.