Society & Minorities
The Nation-State Law
The Nation-State Law should stay as it is, with no equality clause added.
Passed in 2018, the law defines national self-determination as unique to the Jewish people and does not mention equality.
What is at stake
Israel has no single constitution, only "Basic Laws" with quasi-constitutional standing. The 2018 Nation-State Basic Law defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. Unlike the others, it contains no equality clause. About one in five citizens is not Jewish. Amending it takes a Knesset majority.
The case for
- The law does one job: anchor national self-determination. That is the dimension the other Basic Laws left out.
- Individual equality is already protected by Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, and by decades of court rulings.
- An equality clause inside this law would give courts a lever to dilute its national provisions.
The case against
- A Basic Law that defines the state's character should also say that every citizen is equal before the law.
- Arab, Druze and other non-Jewish citizens read the text as ranking them below their neighbours.
- An equality clause takes nothing from the state's Jewish character. Both can sit in the same law.
Both sides get the same number of points at comparable length. That is a rule of this site, not a coincidence.
What the next Knesset could decide
The Knesset amends a Basic Law by ordinary legislation. A bill adding an equality clause, or a competing bill strengthening the current text, could reach the floor. Whether either moves depends on the coalition agreement.