A racist Jewish state.

Saturday, 21 July 2007

[Editor’s note: "This bill reflects an abasement of the Zionist
enterprise to lows never imagined in the Declaration of
Independence." An editorial such as this would never appear in the
Zionist controlled US media, or is there any chance of it being
reprinted. Of course, the editorial writer has not read her or his
history or is t naive to believe that such a policy was not inherent
in political Zionism from its beginnings and not in the hearts and
minds of those who established the "racist Jewish state."–Jeff
Blankfort]

Every day the Knesset has the option of passing laws that will
advance Israel as a democratic Jewish state or turn it into a racist
Jewish state. There is a very thin line between the two. This week,
the line was crossed. If the Knesset legal counselor did not consider
the bill entitled "the Jewish National Fund Law" as sufficiently
racist to keep it off the agenda, it is hard to imagine what
legislation she will consider racist.

In 1995 the Supreme Court rescued the state from callously
discriminating against its Arab citizens through the Ka’adan case,
which prohibited the Israel Lands Administration from discriminating
against non-Jews by leasing land through the Jewish Agency. Since
then the attorney general has stated that such discrimination is
unacceptable – also when it is carried out through the Jewish
National Fund. The MKs were unable to accept this egalitarian ruling,
and on Wednesday a large majority of 65 voted in favor of a
preliminary reading permitting such discrimination. The bill is also
backed by the head of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice
Committee, MK Menahem Ben-Sasson.

Any explanation by the supporters of the bill seeking to beautify it
should be rejected immediately by anyone who cares about the
country’s image. This bill reflects an abasement of the Zionist
enterprise to lows never imagined in the Declaration of Independence.
Even though the Jewish National Fund purchased the lands for the
Jewish people in the Diaspora, the State of Israel has already been
established and these lands must now serve all its citizens.

For those living for tomorrow and not the past, the aim is to create
in Israel a healthy, progressive state where the needs of the two
peoples should concern the leaders and legislators. The Jewish
National Fund’s land policy counters the interests of the state and
cannot discriminate by law against the minority living in Israel.

The clause in the bill stating that "the leasing of JNF lands for the
purpose of settling Jews will not be seen as unacceptable
discrimination," even though it involves 13 percent of state-
controlled lands and allows for further expressions of
discrimination. For example, the establishment of a university only
for Jews on JNF land, or a hospital, or a movie theater.

It is not surprising that MK Uri Ariel, who favors the redemption of
lands by Jews also beyond the Green Line, is the person who initiated
the Jewish National Fund bill. But the support of Benjamin Netanyahu,
Ami Ayalon, Michael Eitan, Reuven Rivlin and Shalom Simhon is a very
bad omen for the future of legislation in Israel. The Ka’adan case in
the Supreme Court failed to bring about change. The power to
discriminate was passed on to communities’ acceptance committees that
reject candidates by reverting to the clause of "being ill-suited to
the community." If it was not for the Supreme Court’s ruling in the
Ka’adan case, it would have been possible also to reject non-Jewish
candidates from Russia.

The Ka’adan ruling was exceptional in setting red lines, allowing a
broad range for change, establishing norms and preventing the
debasement of the rule book. It turns out that the Supreme Court is
not omnipotent. In an instant, a racist Knesset can overturn its
rulings.