Israel minister warns court against intervention over 'Jewish nation state' law

Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked warned the Supreme Court not to overturn the “Jewish nation state” law yesterday, reported Haaretz.

“Such a move would be an earthquake, a war between the authorities,” Shaked said, in remarks made during an interview on Army Radio.

“The Knesset is the constituent assembly, which defines and determines the Basic Laws,” the minister said. “They have to interpret the laws in accordance with the Basic Laws, and I don’t believe a majority on the Supreme Court will decide to take such a step.”

Addressing the possibility that the top court would intervene over the law, Shaked said: “I very much hope that this doesn’t happen and I don’t believe it will happen. This particular law has nothing revolutionary in it. It contains the values on which the state was founded, values of settlement, immigration and national identity. There is a consensus about these values.”

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Shaked also reiterated the basis of her support for the new law, stating: “Over the years, the court has given great weight to the democratic value, to the values of equality, and I think that in certain cases, this came even at the expense of national values. The nation-state law comes to give the High Court of Justice a tool to take national [values] into account, too.”

Haaretz notes that the Supreme Court “will have to deal with the nation-state law due to petitions that have been or are planned to be filed against it.”

“The first such petition was filed by Druze MKs Akram Hasoon, Hamad Amar and Saleh Saad, and the first hearing on it is scheduled for January.”

Another petition was filed by the Meretz party, and there are plans for further petitions from representatives of the Bedouin communities and Adalah – the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.

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Israel’s Nation State Law – Cartoon [Shadi/The National]