St. Louis Jewish Light · 8 August 2018

CP-2018-046

Don't Unfriend the Druze

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Transcribed from the clipping

We have already criticized many aspects of Israel's controversial “nation-state law,” which at its best is unnecessary and superfluous. But a closer reading reveals several clauses that have the effect of downgrading the status of Arabs and other non-Jews in general, and the Israel-loyal Druze community in particular.

The nation-state law, which passed narrowly in the Knesset last month, states that Hebrew is the “official language of the State of Israel.” Under previous Israeli law, both Hebrew and Arabic were listed as “official” languages; in the new law, Arabic has been downgraded to the status of a “special language.”

Even if the intent of the bill's sponsors was not discriminatory, it has the effect of making the Arab citizens of Israel feel like second-class citizens. This aspect of the new law is especially insulting to the Druze and Bedouin communities who have been loyal to Israel from its inception.

How this transcription was made

Date and publication rest on the collector's slide label; no masthead, folio or printed dateline appears on this clipping.

Context added by this archive

2018 GROUP. Headline phrase for the law: the headline itself does not name the law at all - it is 'Don't Unfriend the Druze'. In the body the paper calls it Israel's controversial "nation-state law" (its own quotation marks) and then 'The nation-state law'. The phrase 'Jewish nation-state' does NOT appear; 'nation-state law' does, twice in the first two paragraphs.

WHO LOSES: 'Arabs and other non-Jews in general, and the Israel-loyal Druze community in particular'; and 'the Arab citizens of Israel feel like second-class citizens'. The term used for Palestinian citizens of Israel is 'Arabs' / 'Arab citizens of Israel' - never 'Palestinian'.

ARABIC DEMOTION: mentioned in full and in specifics - that previous law listed both Hebrew and Arabic as 'official' languages and that in the new law 'Arabic has been downgraded to the status of a "special language."' This is the fullest account of the language clause in the batch.

The editorial's sympathy is organised around the Druze and Bedouin as loyal communities; Arab citizens generally are the secondary category.

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