“The Jewish identity is anti-democratic. I am Israeli. With an Israeli identity, we can be secure in our democracy, secure in equality between all citizens.”
Source/Credit: The Hindu
By The Associated Press | October 5, 2013
JERUSALEM: Israel’s population registry lists a slew of “nationalities” and ethnicities, among them Jew, Arab, Druze and more. But one word is conspicuously absent from the list: Israeli.
Residents cannot identify themselves as Israelis in the national registry because the move could have far-reaching consequences for the country’s Jewish character, the Israeli Supreme Court wrote in documents obtained on Thursday.
The ruling was a response to a demand by 21 Israelis, most of who are officially registered as Jews, that the court decide whether they can be listed as Israeli in the registry. The group had argued that without a secular Israeli identity, Israeli policies will favour Jews and discriminate against minorities.
In its 26-page ruling, the court explained that doing so would have “weighty implications” on the state of Israel and could pose a danger to Israel’s founding principle — to be a Jewish state for the Jewish people.
The decision touches on a central debate in Israel, which considers itself both Jewish and democratic, yet has struggled to balance both. The country has not officially recognised an Israeli nationality.
The national population registry lists a person’s religion and nationality or ethnicity, among other details. Any Jew, no matter what his country of origin, is listed as a Jew. Arabs are marked as such and other minorities, such as Druze, are listed by their ethnicity.
Judaism plays a central role in Israel. Religious holidays are also national holidays, and religious authorities oversee many ceremonies, such as weddings and funerals. Yet, since Israel’s establishment in 1948, a distinct Israeli nationality has emerged, including foods, music and culture, and for most Jews, compulsory military service. While roughly half of Israel’s Jewish population define themselves first and foremost as Jewish, 41 per cent of Israelis identify themselves as Israeli, according to the Israel Democracy Institute, a think—tank.
In the Supreme Court case, the 21 petitioners argued that Israel is not democratic because it is Jewish. They say that the country’s Arab minority faces discrimination because certain policies favour Jews and that a shared Israeli nationality could bring an end to such prejudice and unite all of Israel’s citizens.
“The Jewish identity is anti-democratic,” said Uzzi Ornan, the main petitioner who runs “I am Israeli”, a small organisation devoted to having the Israeli nationality officially recognised. “With an Israeli identity, we can be secure in our democracy, secure in equality between all citizens,” said Mr. Ornan (90), a professor of computational linguistics at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa.
Israeli Arabs have long contended that, despite their citizenship, they are victims of official discrimination, with their communities receiving fewer resources than Jewish towns. Mr. Ornan also appealed to Israel’s Interior Minister in 2000 and took the matter to court in 2003 in a failed attempt to identify as Israeli. He vowed to continue his campaign. — AP
Read original post here: A Jewish country, but not for ‘Israelis’
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