Source:-https:\/\/hamodia.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n
YERUSHALAYIM –
A Justice Ministry official has told the Knesset that the nation-state law, which declares Israel to be \u201cthe national home of the Jewish people\u201d should not be used to harm the rights of minority populations, The Times of Israel reported on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The statement comes in the wake of a lawsuit filed by Arab Israeli residents of the northern city of Carmiel whose request for transportation funding for students was turned down by a judge citing the nation-state law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eyal Zandberg, head of Public Law in the Consulting and Legislation Department of the ministry, told the Knesset\u2019s Special Committee for the Rights of the Child that it is clear from the text of the law that \u201cit should not diminish the rights of the children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Committee chairman Yousef Jabareen of the Joint List charged that the law that defined Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people is \u201cracist\u201d and there is a need \u201cto fight any attempt to translate it into harmful policy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Judge Yaniv Luzon wrote in his ruling that providing services such as transportation to and from schools to Arabs would undermine the Jewish majority in Carmiel, which he said was \u201ca Jewish city which is intended to strengthen Jewish settlement in the Galil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe construction of an Arabic-language school or providing transportation for Arab students, wherever and whoever wants it, could change the demographic balance and the character of the city,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Attorney Nizar Bakri had filed a lawsuit on behalf of his brother Qassem and his two nephews, whose right to education, he alleged, had been substantially damaged by the difficulty of constantly organizing transport to and from schools outside the city. There is no Arabic-language school inside Carmiel. Arabs now comprise about six percent of Carmiel\u2019s population \u2014 around 2,760 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bakri demanded that the municipality take on the responsibility of funding transportation for Arab children to and from schools in the area and refund the money which families had already paid out of pocket, the Times of Israel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After addressing certain technical points in the case, Luzon cited the controversial 2018 nation-state law, which enshrines Israel as \u201cthe national home of the Jewish people\u201d and says \u201cthe right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.\u201d It also states that \u201cthe state considers advancing Jewish settlement to be a national value, and will act to encourage and advance its establishment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe development of Jewish settlement is therefore a national value, one anchored in a basic law. It ought to be an appropriate and dominant consideration in the array of municipal considerations, including for the issue of establishment schools and funding transportation,\u201d Luzon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That touched off an angry reaction from Bakri, who characterized the judge\u2019s point \u201cfar from the matter at hand and racist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joint Arab List MK Aida Touma-Suleiman denounced the ruling along similar lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo everyone who said that the nation-state law was not dangerous and merely symbolic \u2014 today\u2019s ruling in Carmiel shows the direction. With rationales of \u2018Jewish character\u2019 it is possible to discriminate against Arabs \u2014 under the protection of the nation-state law,\u201d, who called the law one which \u201cestablishes apartheid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The High Court is scheduled to discuss an appeal by the Palestinian legal rights group Adalah in late December against the nation-state law. The court has ordered the government to present a defense of its position.<\/p>\n