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Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / Foreign Affairs / Israel Moves To Downgrade Status Of Arabic Language (430 Views)
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Israel Moves To Downgrade Status Of Arabic Language by Nobody: 10:34am On May 08, 2017 |
Israeli ministers have approved a controversial
bill that will downgrade Arabic as an official
language and define the country as the
"national home of the Jewish people".
The Haaretz newspaper reported on Sunday
that if the bill were to become law, Arabic
would no longer be an official language and
would instead be defined as having special
status.
In the bill, Hebrew is defined as the "national
language", which would become part of the
country's so-called basic law, which is similar to
a constitution, it said.
The legislation still has to go through further
drafting by the justice ministry and pass
several votes in parliament.
Critics have described the proposed legislation,
which also declares that the "right to self
determination" in Israel is "unique to the Jewish
people" as impinging on the rights of its Arab
minority, who make up some 20 percent of the
8.7 million population.
Defining Israel as the "national home of the
Jewish people" has also raised concerns among
rights activists and others worried over
discrimination and attempts to further mix
religion and state.
Ayman Odeh, a parliament member who heads
the mainly Arab Joint List alliance, said
approving the bill would mean trampling on
minority rights, adding it would "legally
transform us into second-class citizens".
The bill was sponsored by Avi Dichter, a
member of the Likud party of Benjamin
Netanyahu, who said it was necessary to "set in
law our national identity while remaining a
democratic state".
Palestinian citizens of Israel allege widespread
discrimination by Netanyahu's government. |
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