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 concept of equality “even though the word itself doesn’t appear in it,” and Livni is relying on this opinion, it was explained. The bill’s purpose is to enshrine Israel’s identity as the nation-state of the Jewish people in a Basic Law, which has quasi-constitutional status.

Hadash chairman MK Mohammed Barakeh (Photo: Al Ittihad)

But Hadash chairman MK Mohammed Barakeh was scathingly critical of the bill. “Netanyahu is laying the constitutional groundwork for apartheid and bringing Israel down to the status of a pariah state,” he told Haaretz. “He’s instigating war with Gaza and Iran, building separation walls, and perpetuating the occupation and the settlements.”

Barakeh said he plans to protest Netanyahu’s bill by submitting a bill of his own to the Knesset that will be entitled “Israel – A Democratic and Egalitarian State.” His bill declares that “Every person in Israel has the right to equal protection of the law and complete equality of opportunities,” and also permits the government to take affirmative action to promote equality. Barakeh’s bill was written together with Dr. Yousef Jabareen, the director of Dirasat, the Arab Center for Law and Policy. This bill will be “the last bill I submit before my resignation from the Knesset this March,” Barakeh added. “A consolidation of democratic [forces] around this bill would stop the erosion. My bill is an attempt to drag the public debate in the direction of normalcy.”