The High Court on Thursday dismissed a series of petitions against the 2018 controversial nation-state law, which designated Israel as a Jewish state, alleging that it discriminated against minorities.
The expanded 11-justice panel ruled that the law did not conflict with Israel’s democratic character and could stand as a quasi-constitutional basic law.
The court said the law “is a chapter of our emerging constitution, which aims to anchor the components of the state’s identity as a Jewish state without separating it from the components of the state’s democratic identity enshrined in other basic laws and constitutional principles.”
Ten Judges wrote that “although it would have been better if the principle of equality had been explicitly enshrined in the Basic Law,” its omission “does not ultimately detract from its status and importance as a fundamental principle in our doctrine”. “
With the verdict, the court dismissed 15 separate petitions challenging the law by various groups and individuals, including the political parties Meretz and the Joint List, lobby group Adala and the Civil Rights Association in Israel, and lawyer Morsi Abu Moch. Huh. Mayor of Baka al-Gharbiye.
The nation-state law, which passed as a “basic law”—a type of protected law that would one day form the basis of the constitution—established Israel as the “national home of the Jewish people.”
But critics have argued that the law violates the foundation of Israel’s legal system as well as the Declaration of Independence, and reinforces inequality among its citizens.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hyut attends a hearing at the Supreme Court on December 22, 2020 in Jerusalem. (Yontan Sindel / Flash 90)
The sole dissident, Justice George Cara, wrote that portions of the law “negate the core of the state’s democratic identity and shock the threshold of the constitutional framework,” rendering the law void.
Kara said the law disrupts Israel’s balance as a Jewish and democratic state, and only “accelerates violations of the principle of equality” against Arab and Druze citizens.
But in the prevailing opinion, the Bench wrote that the question of inequality can be resolved by a “sustainable interpretation” of the law, which does not conflict with existing laws nor harms the equal rights of all citizens.
The court’s decision to hear petitions seeking to scrap the law was announced in December. A basic law has never been reversed by the court, and then-Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin threatened to defy the court if the law was struck down.
In a hearing with the petitioners in December, the judges argued that instead of focusing on whether the law was unjust, the petitioners sought to move to the question of whether there was a legal basis for scrapping the original law.
However, the ruling noted that because the judges found that the law was legally capable of being incorporated into a future constitution, they saw no need to delve into the thorny question of whether the court had to interfere with the content of the basic laws. Has the right to. .
Interior Minister Aylette Sheik, an architect and advocate of the 2018 law, and who served as Minister of Justice when it was passed in the Knesset, questioned the authority of the court to rule the law.
“The High Court delivered the judgment which is clear,” she said, “the question of disqualification of a basic law was much discussed with complete lack of authority.”
Interior Minister Ailet Shek speaks during a meeting of the Yamina faction in the Knesset on July 5, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash 90)
Justice Minister Gideon Saar commended the decision, saying that the law “anchos the Jewish essence and character of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people” and that it “does no harm to the individual rights of any Israeli citizen.” “
Joint List chief MK Ayman Odeh, however, described the court’s decision as “racist and undemocratic”.
“Jewish Supremacy Act gets seal of approval from High Court today,” he tweeted. “But this is our motherland and no decision will change that.” He said that he would continue to fight for equal rights for all citizens of the country for the sake of “true justice and real democracy”.
Joint List MK Ofer Kasif in the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on August 22, 2019. (Yontan Sindel / Flash 90)
Joint List MK Ofer Kasif raids High Court decision to “legalize racist law”. He tweeted that lawmakers “will be judged by a tribunal of history. We hope that on the way they pass The Hague,” the Dutch city where the International Criminal Court is located.
Adlah, a leading Arab legal rights group that supported one of 15 petitions against the law, accused the court of “refusing to protect Palestinians from the laws that have been in place since World War II and the fall of the apartheid regime.” Most racist in the world. In South Africa.”
The Abraham Initiatives, a non-profit that works to advance the Jewish-Arab partnership, called on the Knesset to repeal the law.
Demonstrators wave flags of Israel and Druze at a demonstration against the nation-state law at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv on August 4, 2018. (Luke Tress / Times of Israel Staff)
“The ruling nation-state does not change the racist and discriminatory nature of the law, which establishes Israel’s Arab citizens as second-class citizens,” it said.
Labor MK Gilad Kariv, head of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice committee, indicated that the court’s decision did not legitimize the use of the law for discrimination.
“The High Court was right in not striking down the nation-state law, and equally right in saying that it cannot be used to justify the violation of democratic values,” he tweeted. “It is the job of the Knesset to clearly anchor the values of equality as well as the recognition that the State of Israel is also the home of its Gentile citizens. That’s exactly what we will try to do.”
Aaron Boxerman contributed to this report.