Amjad Iraqi - Netanyahu is right: Israel is a nation with no interest in equality
As a Palestinian citizen of Israel, I am subject to insidious discrimination that is enshrined by law – and no major party sees it as an issue
Netanyahu is right:
Israel is not a country built for all its people, a fifth of whom (more than
1.5 million) are Palestinian Arab citizens of the state. This was the case long
before the “Jewish nation-state law” was enacted last year, and long before Netanyahu returned as prime
minister a decade ago. Since the state’s establishment in 1948, more than 65 laws have
been used to restrict the rights of Palestinian citizens in all fields of life,
with more being passed every year. While many of these laws may not appear
discriminatory at face value, their racist impact is evident to the people they
target.
For example, as a
non-Jew in Israel, I cannot buy property in the vast majority of the country,
and I can be barred by an admissions committee from living in a small,
community town if I am not deemed “socially or culturally suitable”. I am
unable to study Palestinian history at a state school because it is not taught, and I could put a theatre at risk of losing state funding if I promote a play
describing Israel’s independence as a Nakba, or catastrophe, for the
Palestinian people. If I wished to marry a Palestinian from the occupied
territories, I could not bestow residency or citizenship on her so she could live with
me and raise a family inside Israel; any Jew in the world, however, can fly
into Ben Gurion airport and become a citizen.
In many ways, the
nation-state law changes little for Palestinian citizens of the state, as the
legal infrastructure for their inferior status has always been in place. And
yet, by anchoring Jewish supremacy as a constitutional rule, the law also
changes everything: now, Israeli courts and state bodies are obligated to carry
out racial discrimination. This includes demoting Arabic from its former status
as an official language, and, most dangerously, pursuing exclusive Jewish
settlement as a “national value”. With this law, the avenues for Palestinian
citizens to combat inequality – an already Sisyphean undertaking – are narrowed
even further.
This year’s Israeli elections – and the spat between Sela and Netanyahu –
must be understood in the shadow of this law. Until now, the political coverage
has largely focused on the possibility of former army chief Benny Gantz
replacing Netanyahu, or on Netanyahu’s facilitation of the fascist Jewish Power
party to enter the Knesset. The real issue that should be examined – and that
should matter in every Israeli election – is why none of the main parties are
discussing true equality, or the end of the occupation, as a central issue. The
answer is simple: most Jewish-Israelis agree that anyone who questions Jewish
superiority, or Israel’s rule over all people between the river and the sea,
are not welcome in the public discourse... read more:
