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Netanyahu: The Nation-State Law Does No Harm to the Equal Rights of Minorities in Israel

(Prime Minister's Office) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Israeli Cabinet on Sunday: The State of Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people, with full equal rights for all of its citizens. This is the meaning of the words "a Jewish and democratic state." We have determined the personal equal rights of Israeli citizens in a series of laws including Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, laws that ensure full equality before the law. However, we have never determined the national rights of the Jewish People in its land in a basic law - until now, when we passed the Nation-State Law. One of the basic goals of the state is the ingathering of exiles of our people and their absorption here in the Land of Israel. This is the meaning of the Zionist vision. Does determining that our flag bears the Star of David somehow abrogate the individual right of anyone among Israel's citizens? Nonsense. Does determining that Hatikvah is our national anthem detract from the personal rights of any person in Israel? Nonsense. The feelings of our Druze brothers and sisters touch my heart. I want to tell them: There is nothing in this law that infringes on your rights as equal citizens of the State of Israel, and there is nothing in it that harms the special status of the Druze community in Israel.
2018-07-30 00:00:00
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