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In world politics,Jewish state is a characterization ofIsrael as thenation-state and sovereignhomeland for the Jewish people.[1] Supporters of a Jewish state are calledZionists.
Modern Israelcame into existence on 14 May 1948 as a polity to serve as thehomeland for the Jewish people. It was also defined in its declaration of independence as a "Jewish state", a term that also appeared in theUnited Nations Partition Plan for British Palestine in 1947. The related term of "Jewish and democratic state" dates from a 1992 legislation by Israel'sKnesset.
Since its establishment, Israel has passed many laws which reflect on theJewish identity and values of the majority (about 75% in 2016) of its citizens. The secular-versus-religious debate in Israel in particular has focused debate on theJewish nature of the state; another aspect of the debate is the status of minorities in Israel, most notably that of theArab-Israeli population.
In pre-modern times, the religious laws ofJudaism defined a number of prerogatives for aHalakhic state.[2] WhenTheodor Herzl wroteDer Judenstaat ("The Jewish State") in 1896 which birthed the Jewish movement ofZionism, he envisioned a state based onEuropean models, which included religious institutions under the aegis of the state. In order to avoid alienating theOttoman Sultan, there was no explicit reference to a Jewish state by theZionist Organization that he founded. The phrase "national home" was used intentionally instead of "state".[3]
The 1942Biltmore Program of the Zionist Organization explicitly proposed "thatPalestine be established as a Jewish Commonwealth". In 1946, theAnglo-American Committee of Inquiry, also known as theGrady–Morrison Committee, noted that the demand for a Jewish state went beyond the obligations of either theBalfour Declaration or theBritish Mandate, and had been expressly disowned by the chairman of theJewish Agency as recently as 1932.[4]
The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, which brought the British Mandate to an end in 1948, referred to a "Jewish state" and an "Arab state" in its plans for land allotment.
The termJewish state has been in common usage in the media since the establishment of Israel, and the term has also been used interchangeably withIsrael.George W. Bush used the term in his speeches and in an exchange of letters with Israeli prime ministerAriel Sharon in 2004.[5]Barack Obama has also used the phrase, for instance in a speech in September 2010 to theUnited Nations General Assembly.[6] The Israeli government under prime ministerEhud Olmert made the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state by theState of Palestine a pre-condition in the peace negotiations,[7] as did the government of his successor,Benjamin Netanyahu. Palestinians regard the demand for Jewish-state recognition as a trap—a new demand that did not come up during years of negotiations in the 1990s or in peace treaties reachedwith Egypt andwith Jordan. ThePalestine Liberation Organization recognized the State of Israel as part of theOslo Accords in 1993. Palestinians regard acceptance of the demand as giving uptheir right of return.[8]
On 19 July 2018, with a vote of 62 to 55 (2 abstained), the Knesset adopted a newBasic Law thatdefines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.[9][10]
Israel has no official religion.[11][12][13] However, the definition of the state asJewish creates a strong connection as well as a conflict between state law and religious law. Political interaction of different parties keeps the balance between state and religion largely as it existed during the British Mandate.[14] TheGavison-Medan Covenant is a proposal to reform the status quo in order to reinforce the state's Jewish character while reducing religious coercion.[15]
The 1917Balfour Declaration, referred to "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people". The 1922Churchill White Paper clarified that "Phrases have been used such as that Palestine is to become 'as Jewish as England is English.' His Majesty's Government regard any such expectation as impracticable and have no such aim in view. They would draw attention to the fact that the terms of the Declaration referred to do not contemplate that Palestine as a whole should be converted into a Jewish National Home, but that such a Home should be founded 'in Palestine.'"[16]
The concept of a nationalhomeland for the Jewish people is enshrined in Israeli national policy and reflected in many of Israel's public and national institutions. The concept was adopted in theIsraeli Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948 as the objective of the establishment of modern Israel. The principle was given legal effect in theLaw of Return, which was passed by theKnesset on 5 July 1950, and stated: "Every Jew has the right to come to this country as anoleh."[17] This was modified in 1970 to include non-Jews with a Jewish grandparent, and their spouses.[citation needed]
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There has been ongoing debate in Israel on the character of the state, regarding whether it should enshrine moreJewish culture, encourageJudaism in schools, and enshrine certain laws ofKashrut andShabbat observance. This debate reflects a historical divide withinZionism and among the Jewish citizens of Israel, which has largesecular and traditional/Orthodox minorities as well as a majority which lies somewhere in between.
On 19 November 2008, Israeli Foreign MinisterTzipi Livni addressed theUnited Jewish Communities General Assembly in Jerusalem. In her speech, she announced: "These two goals of Israel asa Jewish and a democratic state must coexist and not contradict each other. So, what does that mean, a Jewish state? It is not only a matter of the number of Jews who live in Israel. It is not just a matter of numbers but a matter of values. The Jewish state is a matter of values, but it is not just a matter of religion, it is also a matter of nationality. And a Jewish state is not a monopoly of rabbis. It is not. It is about the nature of the State of Israel. It is about Jewish tradition. It is about Jewish history, regardless of the question of what each and every Israeli citizen does in his own home on Saturdays and what he does on the Jewish holidays. We need to maintain the nature of the State of Israel, the character of the State of Israel, because this is theraison d'être of the State of Israel."[18]
Advocates of Israel becoming a more narrowly Jewish commonwealth face at least the following practical and theoretical questions:
Theorists who ask these questions focus on the future of the State of Israel and realize that although the sovereign political state has been established, there is still much work to be done in relation to the state'sidentity.[23]
The notion that Israel should be constituted in the name of and maintain a special relationship with a particular group of people, the Jewish people, has drawn much controversy vis-à-vis minority groups living in Israel—the large number ofMuslim andChristianPalestinians residing in Israel.[citation needed]
A poll commissioned by theIsrael Democracy Institute in 2007 found that 75% ofArab-Israelis would support a constitution that maintained Israel asa Jewish and democratic state with equal minority rights.[24] Among the 507 people who participated in the poll, some 75 percent said they would agree with such a definition while 23 percent said they would oppose it.[24]
Linguist and political commentatorNoam Chomsky makes a distinction between the concept of "a Jewish ethnic homeland in Palestine" and that of "a Jewish state" in his interview onC-SPAN, saying that he has always supported a Jewish ethnic homeland in Palestine, which is different from a Jewish state. He says that there is a strong case to be made for an ethnic homeland, but he has always been opposed to a Jewish state, for the same reasons he would be opposed to "a Christian state, or aWhite state, or anIslamic republic". Chomsky believes the concept of a Jewish State (or Muslim, Christian or White State) directly contradicts the concept of a democratic state as it is understood in the Western tradition, because liberal democracy is founded upon a principle in which there is no privileged citizen.[25]
Maimonides' Messiah is a mortal, worldly kind whose task it is to build a sovereign Jewish state
The compromise, therefore, was to choose constructive ambiguity: as surprising as it may seem, there is no law that declares Judaism the official religion of Israel. However, there is no other law that declares Israel's neutrality toward all confessions. Judaism is not recognized as the official religion of the state, and even though the Jewish, Muslim and Christian clergy receive their salaries from the state, this fact does not make Israel a neutral state. This apparent pluralism cannot dissimulate the fact that Israel displays a clear and undoubtedly hierarchical pluralism in religious matters. ... It is important to note that from a multicultural point of view, this self-restrained secularism allows Muslim law to be practiced in Israel for personal matters of the Muslim community. As surprising as it seems, if not paradoxical for a state in war, Israel is the only Western democratic country in which Sharia enjoys such an official status.
It is true that Jewish Israelis, and secular Israelis in particular, conceive of religion as shaped by a state-sponsored religious establishment. There is no formal state religion in Israel, but the state gives its official recognition and financial support to particular religious communities, Jewish, Islamic and Christian, whose religious authorities and courts are empowered to deal with matters of personal status and family law, such as marriage, divorce, and alimony, that are binding on all members of the communities.
Although there is no official religion in Israel, there is also no clear separation between religion and state. In Israeli public life, tensions frequently arise among different streams of Judaism: Ultra-Orthodox, National-Religious,Mesorati (Conservative), Reconstructionist Progressive (Reform), and varying combinations of traditionalism and non-observance. Despite this variety in religious observances in society, Orthodox Judaism prevails institutionally over the other streams. This boundary is an historical consequence of the unique evolution of the relationship between Israel nationalism and state building. ... Since the founding period, in order to defuse religious tensions, the State of Israel has adopted what is known as the 'status quo,' an unwritten agreement stipulating that no further changes would be made in the status of religion, and that conflict between the observant and non-observant sectors would be handled circumstantially. The 'status quo' has since pertained to the legal status of both religious and secular Jews in Israel. This situation was designed to appease the religious sector, and has been upheld indefinitely through the disproportionate power of religious political parties in all subsequent coalition governments. ... On one hand, the Declaration of Independence adopted in 1948 explicitly guarantees freedom of religion. On the other, it simultaneously prevents the separation of religion and state in Israel.
The great political and ideological importance of religion in the state of Israel manifests itself in the manifold legal provisions concerned with religions phenomenon. ... It is not a system of separation between state and religion as practiced in the U.S.A and several other countries of the world. In Israel a number of religious bodies exercise official functions; the religious law is applied in limited areas
