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The Jewish State's Nation-State Bill Non-Scandal

(New York Times) Bret Stephens - The purpose of Israel's new nation-state bill was to codify into Israel's Basic Laws - akin to a constitution - aspects of Israeli identity long taken for granted by Israelis and outsiders alike. It can plausibly be described as a mostly symbolic codification of Israel's Jewish character in the face of persistent efforts to deny that character. What the bill is not is the death of Israel's democracy - it was enacted democratically. It is not the death of Israeli civil liberties - still guaranteed under the 1992 Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty. Nor is it anywhere remotely as noxious as what is happening in other Western democracies wrestling with competing claims between national identity, civil liberties and cultural pluralism. In Denmark, the Times reported last month, "starting at the age of 1, [immigrant] 'ghetto children' must be separated from their families for at least 25 hours a week, not including nap time, for mandatory instruction in 'Danish values,' including the traditions of Christmas and Easter, and the Danish language.'" So where are the calls to boycott, divest and sanction Denmark?
2018-08-13 00:00:00
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