Caricature: Michel Kishka

Netanyahu wants to define Israel as “Jewish state” in law

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, says he will introduce a basic law defining Israel as a Jewish state, giving high-level support to a controversial idea that has long been a demand of the Israeli extreme-right. The state has never before officially defined itself as “Jewish”, though right-wing legislators have introduced bills to that effect…

Hadash chairman MK Mohammed Barakeh (Photo: Al Ittihad)

Hadash against Netanyahu’s “Jewish Nation-State” Bill

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni is likely to support a new version of the discriminatory, so-called “Jewish Nation-State” bill proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even though this version makes no explicit mention of equality for Israel’s Arab-Palestinian citizens. On Thursday, November 20, the Attorney General’s Office released an opinion stating that Netanyahu’s proposal includes the…

Poll: 61% of Jewish Israelis support 2-state solution

A majority of the Jewish public in Israel (57 percent) believes Israel should make a unilateral move to determine its borders with the Palestinian territories, using the path of the existing separation wall as a guide, a poll conducted by Rafi Smith for non-partisan political movement Blue White Future released on Friday found. The majority…