Nation-State Law – The Inferiority Complex of the Right
Nation-State Law – The Inferiority Complex of the Right

The “spontaneous” campaign against the Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People exposes once again the wide-scale weakness in portions of the national camp. This conscious weakness causes it to capitulate time after time to the repeated attacks of the Left so that even after 40 years of Right-wing rule, the hegemony over awareness still belongs to the Left.

The Nation-State Law does not say anything that wasn’t accepted by the founders and proponents of Zionism – it is very difficult to be a Zionist (leftist or rightist) and oppose it.

Yet in its sophisticated way, the Left searched for rifts. After they succeed in minimally cracking the law, they will be able to breach it altogether, remove its public value and its consideration by the High Court of Justice in future rulings (and perhaps even lead to its full disqualification or the nullification of selected clauses).

Thus the target was chosen: the Druze. Such an easy way to begin cracking the law through them and through their special relationship with the Jewish state. How easy it is to strum the loyalty chords of the healthy portions of the Jewish people (loyalty chords that weren’t particularly strong among those who abandoned the soldiers of the South Lebanon Army and transferred collaborators directly into the arms of partner Arafat after the Oslo Accords).

While it’s true that the Druze are not impeded by even half a word in law, it is always possible to strum feelings of discrimination of one kind or another, feelings of imaginary irrelevance (and how can one argue with feelings…) and develop a media campaign that ends up with spineless or unaware coalition members (who are thirsty for momentary media attention) emitting empty slogans on required amendments to the law.

As soon as the goal of excluding the Druze is attained, the conclusion among the public will be that they are being discriminated against. From here the demand to include other minorities will surely arise and ultimately the question: Should military service be a prerequisite for full rights? Should Jews who do not serve in the army (like the haredim) be discriminated against as opposed to other minorities who don’t serve? And there goes the Nation-State Law. Hooray for a state of all its citizens!

What Can Be Done?

Stop blinking and stop apologizing. The State of Israel is the state of the Jewish nation. The definition of Israel as a Jewish state not only isn’t racist, but actually the racism is found among those who libel it with such accusations. Not only is there no basis for discrimination against minorities in the Nation-State Law, but actually the arguments against the law are scathingly discriminating against the Jewish State and a blatant double standard that is not applied to any other countries in the world. The objections of the Opposition to the law should have put their members on the defense.

For example, regarding the seeming discrimination on the subject of state symbols: In a comparative study entitled 'Flag, Symbol and Anthem in Democratic Nation-States' (conducted by the Zionist Horizon Center for Zionist Leadership in partnership with the Institute for Zionist Strategies) countries of similar nature and regime like Israel, which uphold the principles of democracy, were examined through their national symbols. The study surveyed the use of national symbols among 32 developed democratic countries that are members of the OECD. The comparison included flags, symbols and anthems of these countries. A clear picture emerges from the findings: in the vast majority of countries examined, national symbols are used to express the religious, ethnic and national heritage of the founding founders. The main findings include:

  • In 28 out of 32 countries, the national anthem includes words of a religious, national or ethnic nature.
  • In 26 out of 32 countries, the state emblem has a religious or national affiliation.
  • In 25 out of 32 countries, the state flag includes religious elements that have an affinity to the founders’ nationality, religion, or historical homeland.
  • In 11 cases the flag bears a Christian cross or a Muslim crescent.

In this context, it is clear that the State of Israel is not exceptional in choosing its national symbols. In fact, Israel's use of symbols derived from Jewish history and heritage is an expression of a long-standing universal tradition that does not indicate discrimination or exclusion of minorities living in the state.

It should be stated clearly to the Druze public that only a Jew who respects his own nationality will be able to truly respect the Druze in particular, and other minorities in general. Those who despise nationalism, religion and tradition will use the Druze when convenient and throw them out when done because they have no respect for them, their religion or their traditions. Certainly not for their loyalty to the State of Israel.