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Does Israel ban equality-seeking candidates from holding office?

In response to a contention made by one of our readers—posited initially by Norman Finkelstein in his book Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict, that a “1989 Israel High Court decision [ruled] that any political party advocating full equality between Arab and Jew can be barred from fielding candidates in an election…[meaning] that the Israeli state is the state of the Jews…not their [the Arabs’] state”—I consulted Chuck Chriss, of the Jewish Internet Association, and publisher of palestinefacts.org. Here’s what we found out:

Many anti-Israel web sites have this claim. It seems to originate from this citation:

“The Romantic essence of the Israeli state was reaffirmed by a crucial High Court decision in 1989. Four of the five judges concurred that any political party which advocates complete equality between Arab and Jew can be barred from fielding candidates in an election. David Kretzmer, the eminent Hebrew University legal scholar, commented that the High Court decision validated the position that “the state is the state of the Jews, both those presently resident in the country as well as those resident abroad. Even if the Arabs have equal rights on all other levels, their implication is abundantly clear: Israel is not their state.” Israel’s highest judicial body thus confirmed that Israel is not a democratic state. (David Kretzmer, The Legal Status of Arabs in Israel, Boulder 1990, pp 30-31.)”

I cannot find any source that refers to this law other than anti-Israel sources eager to claim Israel is an apartheid fascist state. They have expanded the concept of Israel as a Jewish state to imply that this means various terrible things. Their goal is to turn Israel into a state where Jews can be outvoted by others and, shortly thereafter, killed or expelled. This must never happen.

As a practical matter, the operation of the court decision is not as claimed. There are Israeli Arabs in the Knesset who have such views and they are very outspoken. They still run for office and are seated in the Knesset. In addition, I refer you to Section 12 of this document from the Israeli MFA:

“12.1 The Government will ensure the full and equal rights of all its citizens – Arab, Bedouin, Druze, Circassian, and all others. The Government will work towards equality in education, employment, housing, and infrastructure and will rectify imbalances in the distribution of resources and public services.”

The intention is to have equality, with Israel remaining the only nation for Jews in the world. G-d knows we need it.

I hope this helps,
Chuck Chriss

7 thoughts on “Does Israel ban equality-seeking candidates from holding office?

  1. Their goal is to turn Israel into a state where Jews can be outvoted by others
    Well, yeah! You mean like a true democracy, where each person gets one vote, and whoever gets the most votes wins ?
    and, shortly thereafter, killed or expelled.
    How can you say with such certainty that Norman Finkelstein and David Kretzmer’s goals are to see that Israeli Jews are “killed or expelled” ? That seems a little bit heavy handed to me.
    Speaking of which, IsraelBlog recently linked to a piece by Ali Abunimah in favor of a one-state solution. Aron from IsraelBlog quotes the following section of Ali’s essay:
    “The burden to persuade Israelis lies largely with Palestinians, who while demanding equal rights and an end to the Jewish Israeli monopoly on power, must hold out a future in which the two communities express their identities as equals rooted by right and history in the same land.”
    “This is undoubtedly an unfair burden, but it is a fact that oppressed groups must often show their oppressors a way out of the tunnel they have dug. This was true in South Africa, where even in the darkest days of apartheid, the African National Congress under Nelson Mandela offered white South Africans a future of reconciliation, not revenge. As in South Africa, a truth and reconciliation process can help both peoples overcome the pain of the past even as they build a just future together.”

  2. A Palestinian leader on trial on terrorism charges has warned that Palestinians will seek democratic rights within Israel if they do not get their own independent state.
    Marwan Barghouti, widely seen as Yasser Arafat’s likely successor as head of the dominant Fatah party, told an Israeli court that “if an occupation does not end unilaterally or through negotiations then there is only one solution: one state for two people”.
    This so-called one state solution to the Middle East crisis is seen as a serious threat by many Israelis, since demographic trends predict that soon there will be an overall Arab majority in the combined Israeli and Arab territories.
    Until now it has also been rejected by the Palestinian mainstream, which wants its own state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Extremists demand nothing less than the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state.

    http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/30/1064819931457.html?from=storyrhs

  3. It’s pretty clear that the existing leadership has no intention of allowing the Palestinians to have a viable state of their own (i.e. along the green line), so what choice do they have left? The current situation is not acceptable for either side IMO.

  4. actually, historically it’s been the palestinians who have rejected having their own state, despite the fact that they were already given one–jordan.
    while the existing leadership doesn’t appear to be playing ball, there’s nothing that guarantees that they’ll be the leadership come next term.

  5. while the existing leadership doesn’t appear to be playing ball, there’s nothing that guarantees that they’ll be the leadership come next term.
    please, let it be

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