2 min read
ByAnshel Pfeffer, Anshel Pfeffer
The Prime Minister showed little interest in the bill until the election drew close last year, Anshel Pfeffer writes
March 12, 2019 10:36Less than a year ago, when Benjamin Netanyahu began pushing his coalition to support the Nation State law, many Knesset members were astonished.
The bill had been languishing — over the space of three different Knesset terms — since it was originally tabled in 2011.
Like so many other pieces of nationalist legislation that had been proposed by right-wing backbenchers, it seemed destined to gather dust.
“Netanyahu had never shown much interest,” recalls one Knesset MK. “It was clear for years that he had no problem with the Nation State law dying in committee.”
The rest is parliamentary history. A year ago, it suddenly gathered pace: the bill was sprinted through committee, brought to its first Knesset reading on May 1, and on July 19, after innumerable changes and amendments, and heavy pressure on the coalition members who thought such a quasi-constitutional law should only be legislated with a wide national consensus, it passed 62-55 in to law.
Now, eight months later, there should be no surprise over why Mr Netanyahu was so suddenly insistent on it.
He was already preparing for the upcoming election and this time he was not about to wait to the last day to make it about the Arabs, lest there be no doubt over which party is standing up for the Jews.
In recent weeks, the law has become a constant campaign rallying call for Likud politicians.
One of the worst things Likud has to say in its propaganda about Benny Gantz and his Blue & White party is that if they win, they will change the law.
The most bizarre turn of this election campaign so far has been last weekend’s battle of Instagram, instigated by the actress and television presenter Rotem Sela.
Responding to a televised interview with Likud’s Culture Minister Miri Regev in which the minister attacked Blue & White for being prepared to sit with Arab MKs in their coalition, Ms Sela wrote on the social media platform: “When the hell will someone in this government broadcast to the public that Israel is a country for all its citizens.”
In most countries, senior politicians do not risk confrontations with popular television stars, but Israel is a bit different.
Within hours, Mr Netanyahu answered through his own Instagram account: “Dear Rotem, an important correction: Israel is not a state of all its citizens. According to the Nation State law that we passed, Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish People — and them alone.”
Perhaps finally, this Instagram exchange — in which other celebrities including Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot also weighed in — will dispel all illusions about the Nation State Law.
It is not about re-ordering the legal balance of the status of Israel’s citizens, because in real terms, it barely changes a thing. It was not even about offending Israel’s non-Jewish citizens, though of course it achieved that.
The law was intended to do one thing, and one thing only: boost Mr Netanyahu’s chances of re-election. He wanted it to be as controversial and non-consensual as possible.
He is convinced that framing the contest in the terms of Jewish right-wingers against the Arab-loving left is the most effective way to motivate Likud voters in their droves to the polling-stations.
Nothing else matters.
