Ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government on Sunday endorsed a controversial bill to enshrine Israel's character as a Jewish state despite criticism that it would leave the country's one-fifth Arab minority as second-class citizens. Arabic speakers would "have the right to language-accessible state services" but it would not be an official language.
Israel is pushing for a bill, which, if passed, will downgrade Arabic from its current status as an official language in the occupied Palestinian territories to a non-official language.
The legislation still has to pass through the Justice Ministry and wind its way through parliament.
Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid said he supports a narrower version submitted by Likud MK Bennie Begin, which affirms Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people in their homeland, and nothing more.
Palestinian Knesset member Esawi Freige - of the opposition Meretz party - said the committee's decision "again proves that for the current government, democracy is a swear word".
In meetings in Israel, Trump will discuss how he plans to broker peace between Israelis and Palestinians, a goal that has evaded many previous administrations. Then, on an issue that during the campaign had become the symbol of the US-Israel relationship under the Trump administration, Netanyahu had to fight to retain his composure when, at the press conference preceding the two leaders' private talks, President Trump blindsided his Israeli guest, offering public advice to "lay off the settlement building for a bit". "Discrimination has received a legal stamp".
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Fleury has allowed nine goals on 58 shots the past two games after nine on 142 shots the first four games against the Capitals. Youre not going to win every one. "But I thought our game was really, really quite good in both those Game 7s".
Odeh told the Times of Israel, "The danger of this bill is that it creates two classes of citizens".
Zionist Union Minister Erel Margalit, a contender for the leadership of his party, said that the bill was "reminiscent of dark periods" in history.
"This means obviously the creation of a Jewish state, of an army capable of defending ourselves with soldiers who are courageous and commanders who are equally courageous with moral standards second-to-none".
"This is a small step for the Jewish state bill, which establishes that Israel is and will be a Jewish and democratic state, and it's a big step toward defining our identity, not only in the eyes of the world but primarily for ourselves, Israelis".
Critics, however, said that the bill is discriminatory to Israel's Palestinians and other minority populations. Dichter argued that none of Israel's 11 Basic Laws deals with the identity or definition of the Israeli state.
"I don't understand why it hasn't been made into law so far", he said.
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