Nation-state law: More than just a declaration

The attacks carried out by Palestinian terrorist ‎organizations against Israel over the years have ‎successfully explained Israel’s defensive and ‎retaliatory measures. As part of these measures, ‎terrorist cells were eliminated, Qassam rockets were ‎destroyed, terrorist tunnels were blown up, and ‎currently, Israel is fending off Hamas’s border riots ‎and arson terrorism campaigns, all while ‎simultaneously fighting international hypocrisy ‎calling for “proportional response” and treacherous ‎Palestinian subversion.‎

Against the backdrop of this struggle, a political ‎firestorm raged over the approval of the nation-state law—an operative defense measure. While ‎Israel is busy defending itself on various levels on ‎the ground, the traditional chorus of critics ‎asserts that passing legislation that defines Israel ‎as the nation-state of the Jewish people is “racist, ‎fascist, discriminatory, declarative and hollow.” ‎

A short review of the history and the works of the ‎three monotheistic religions should remind us all of ‎the most natural and legitimate conclusion: There is ‎nothing new in the nation-state law. A Palestinian ‎state never existed here, but a Jewish state did, ‎and Judaism, Christianity and Islam all predicted its ‎resurrection.‎ Nowhere in the scripture of all three does anyone ‎mention the Palestinians—those who have betrayed ‎their hosts in Kuwait, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and ‎now, Israel.‎

History reminds us of the 1947 Partition Plan, which ‎sought to establish neighboring Jewish and Arab ‎states in the Land of Israel. Even this plan made no ‎mention of “Palestine,” regardless of the fact that ‎the Arabs turned it down. Arab armies then tried to ‎destroy us, but despite their effort, the ‎Declaration of Independence was signed, asserting ‎Israel’s nature as a Jewish state committed to ‎preserve the equality and rights of the minorities ‎living here.‎

Even Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, in one of his ‎pre-Oslo Accords speeches in the early 1990s, ‎acknowledged that Israel is a Jewish state.‎

So why did we need the nation-state law to begin ‎with?‎

The Arab rejection of the Jewish state in 1948 and ‎the call for its destruction stemmed from political ‎considerations, but mainly for Islamic reasons: The ‎Palestinians (and the Islamists) perceive the Jews ‎not as a nation entitled to a homeland, but as a ‎religious community forever fallen out of grace. ‎This is why Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud ‎Abbas refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish ‎state, despite the nobility of our Declaration of ‎Independence.‎

It is well known that Arab countries are Islamic and ‎European countries are Christian. No one but radical ‎Islamist groups challenges this reality. As far as ‎the international community is concerned, nothing is ‎more valid than the attempt, failed as it may be, to ‎assemble a divided mob, devoid of any shared ‎history, define it as the “Palestinian nation” and ‎give it—for the first time in history—a ‎Palestinian nation-state. ‎

In stark contrast, when a Jewish majority in the ‎Knesset defined Israel as the nation-state of the ‎Jewish people, dedicated to preserving the rights ‎and equality of the minorities living within it, the ‎move evoked global wrath.‎

The newly formed Palestinians have been dreaming that Israel would be defeated militarily, defeated ‎by Palestinian terror, fall prey to international ‎isolation or implode over terrorist intifadas, the ‎leftist opposition or the High Court of Justice’s ‎judicial overreach. As their illusions deflated one ‎by one, they began dreaming of a Palestinian ‎terrorist state “alongside Israel,” which would then ‎strive to destroy it with the help of the ‎Palestinian national minority within.‎

As far as the Palestinians are concerned, ‎Palestinian nationality is permitted but Jewish ‎nationality is forbidden. ‎

This is why the nation-state law is imperative and ‎it is not merely declarative: The law defines Israel ‎as the “nation-state” of the Jewish people, thus ‎putting the brakes on the Palestinian’s subversive ‎plans. Let’s see the High Court of Justice repeal ‎that.

Dr. Reuven Berko was the adviser on Arab affairs to the Jerusalem district police and a writer for Israel Hayom.