CPI: “The ‘Nation-State Law’ is a Fascist Step towards Apartheid”

The Communist Party of Israel (CPI) considers the “Basic Law: Israel – The Nation State of the Jewish People,” a serious fascist step aimed at undermining the right of self-determination for the Palestinian people, and eliminating the rights of the Palestinian refugees. This law also denies the national and basic rights of the Palestinian citizens of Israel and, in doing so it establishes a formal system of Apartheid in Israel.

Invitation to an emergency meeting against the "Nation-State Law" that will be held by the CPI in Haifa, tomorrow (Sunday, July 29) with the participation of MKs Ayman Odeh, Aida Touma-Sliman and Mossi Raz

Invitation to an emergency meeting against the “Nation-State Law” that will be held by the CPI in Haifa, tomorrow (Sunday, July 29) with the participation of MKs Ayman Odeh, Aida Touma-Sliman and Mossi Raz

This basic law falls within the framework of the Israeli policy of denying the national and historical rights of the Palestinian people to their homeland, and the Netanyahu government’s policy of antagonizing the Palestinian citizens of Israel and delegitimizing their citizenship. All this points to a new and dangerous level of rightwing deterioration towards fascism that not only threatens a national minority, but impairs the democratic space as a whole, and grants constitutional legitimacy to the long-practiced policies of discrimination and racism.

The CPI reaffirms its well-known historical position: that the Palestinian citizens of Israel are the indigenous people of this country, and have no other homeland – and no fascist act by any racist government can change this fact. These masses, which now number nearly one and a half million, are committed to their homeland and their rights within it.

This inadmissible racist legislation, in parallel with Israel’s annexation and displacement plans in the Occupied Territories and in the Negev, reaffirms that the Zionist strategy – supported by the US administration and in collusion with the reactionary Arab regimes of the Gulf – is the final elimination of the possibility of an independent Palestinian state within the borders of June 4th, 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital; including a just solution that will guarantee the refugees’ return under UN resolutions, as well as the rights of the Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality regarding their national and civil rights within their homeland. It is not surprising that the fascist right and racist, Islamophobia and anti-Semitic forces in Europe and the United States applaud this law and are inspired by the “Israeli national model,” that is, the model of national chauvinism, religious fundamentalism and oppression of minorities.

What is most needed from us today is to unite the struggle by the Palestinian citizens of Israel, in the face of this authoritarian escalation, through their representative bodies. At the same time, what is required now is not only to prevent the isolation of the Palestinian citizens in this battle, but also to attract all those offended by the government’s approach and to build the broadest possible Jewish-Arab front to resist fascism. The CPI also calls on all revolutionary and progressive forces in the region and throughout the world to step up their struggle against this criminal policy, which will only bring disaster to the region and its peoples.

The CPI reaffirms its support for all steps taken until now by Hadash, the Joint List and the Higher Follow-up Committee of the Arab Citizens in Israel, and calls upon the Arab and Jewish masses, especially the younger generation, to participate actively in the coming struggles to defeat racism and overthrow this government.