Source: Michael Rosen’s Blog
The Nation
it is the place where Jews ‘self-determine’.
It does not mention the 25% of the people
of Israel who are not Jews.
The nation is made up of its people. The
Nation State Law is the Law for the people.
But not all the people are mentioned.
They are un-mentioned. They are the people
who are not seen by the Law. They do not
exist. In fact, they so do not exist
that it is not even mentioned that they do not
exist. They are nothing. In fact, it is not even
mentioned that they are a nothing. In fact,
I haven’t even said this. This is not a
statement. There is nothing here. You
have not read it. You will not mention the
unmentioned people when talking about the
Law.
Because the Law does not mention the people
who are not mentioned, the Law can not harm
the people not mentioned. It does not
discriminate against them because they are
not mentioned in the Law.
You may mention how this Law is a Law that
does not discriminate against any people but
you may not mention any people who are not
mentioned.
Israel’s Nation-State Law
On 19 July 2018, the Israeli parliament passed the “nation-state law” which:
- States that “the right to exercise national self-determination” in Israel is “unique to the Jewish people”;
- Establishes Hebrew as Israel’s official language, downgrading Arabic — the language widely spoken by Arab Israelis, who comprise 25 percent of the Israel’s population, to “special status”;
- Establishes “Jewish settlement as a national value” and mandates that the state “will labor to encourage and promote its establishment and development.”
When the law passed, Arab parliamentary members ripped up copies of the bill and shouted, “Apartheid,” on the floor of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament). Ayman Odeh, the leader of a coalition of primarily Arab parties, said in a statement that Israel had “passed a law of Jewish supremacy and told us that we will always be second-class citizens.”
In reponse to the law, the legenday Israeli cartoonist, Avi Katz, published “My cartoon on Israel’s shameful new Nationalism Law”, parodying the selfie (see above) taken by Netanyahu and parliamentary supporters celebrating the enshrining in law that Israel is effectively an apartheid state.” For this cartoon, Katz was sacked by the Jerusalem Post, a publication he had worked at for 30 years.
