‘A DEFINING MOMENT’

Israel Passes Bill Defining Itself as the Nation-State of the Jewish People

The law calls on the state to “encourage, advance, and implement” new Jewish settlements.

A controversial “nation-state bill” defining Israel as a “nation-state of the Jewish people” and allowing the state to “encourage, advance, and implement” new Jewish settlements became Israel’s 14th Basic Law on Wednesday. The Jerusalem Post reports that two of the most contentious clauses were changed before it passed the Knesset. Opposition lawmakers reacted with anger, with one ripping up a copy of the bill and another saying previously that he was watching the “death of [Israel’s] democracy… suffering from the racism that has hit a new peak with this bill.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the law's passage, on a 62-55 vote, calling it “a defining moment in the history of Zionism” laying out “the basic principle of our existence.”