Israeli Cabinet Approves Loyalty Oath for Non-Jews

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israel-flagThe proposed loyalty oath in Israel came a step closer to law today after winning Cabinet approval by a 22-8 vote. Labor party Ehud Barak and his party’s ministers, along with Likud ministers Benny Begin, DanMeridor, and Michael Eitan, voted against the proposal.

The proposed law would require all non-Jews to sign an oath pledging loyalty to “the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.” Israel Is Our Home party leader Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman pledged to voters two years ago he would introduce a loyalty oath.

The next step in the legislative process is a discussion at a Cabinet ministerial meeting and then a vote in the Knesset.

The Cabinet rejected two amendments, one by Barak, who wanted the loyalty oath to include a reference to the country’s Declaration of Independence, which places Arabs and Israel on an equal footing. The other amendment, proposed by Justice Minister Yaakov Ne’eman, would have applied the bill to Jews as well as non-Jews.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the Cabinet, “The State of Israel is the national state of the Jewish people and it is a democratic state for all its citizenship. Jews and non-Jews enjoy equality and full rights. Unfortunately, there are many today who tried to blur not only the unique connection of the Jewish people to its homeland, but also the connection of the Jewish people to its state….

“There is no other democracy in the Middle East. There is no other Jewish state in the world. The combination of these two lofty values expresses the foundation of our national life and anyone who would like to join us needs to recognize this.”

Read more at Arutz Shevah.

{Arutz Shevah/Matzav.com}


2 COMMENTS

  1. It is thoroughly disturbing to watch Israel move increasingly away from democratic ideals in favor of totalitarian measures that place one segment of the population, and certain ways of thinking above all others.

    Muslims living under Israeli sovereignty are denied a voice in the government that controls them; academic and religious writings not in accord with the vision the State wishes to portray are quashed and their authors persecuted; some religious groups are required to take loyalty oaths, while others are exempted.

    Such measures might be justified if they constituted the imposition of halachik norms on a country governed in accordance with the Torah. However, as long as Israel remains an un-Jewish State, its only claim to moral legitimacy lies in its democratic institutions that respect the political equality of all individuals. This commitment is slowly fading, and Israel’s democratic legitimacy along with it.

  2. to #1
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    …..so?
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    and thats not true. there are a number of muslim Mks, and there are plenty of ant-israel publications all over israel.
    persecutions against writings tends to the anti-charedi and the randomly political.
    .
    .
    also is there truly something wrong with requiring citizens to be loyal to their country??

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