(21 February 2023)
Our Declaration of Independence promises that the State of Israel “will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture…”
As of today, those foundational commitments and guarantees are under direct and tangible threat, from the very government charged with upholding them.
WE DECLARE that, with effect from the moment of the termination of the Mandate being tonight, the eve of Sabbath, the 6th Iyar, 5708 (15th May, 1948), until the establishment of the elected, regular authorities of the State in accordance with the Constitution which shall be adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October 1948, the People‘s Council shall act as a Provisional Council of State, and its executive organ, the People‘s Administration, shall be the Provisional Government of the Jewish State, to be called „Israel“.
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
(November 1, 2023)
To focus, as we do here, on the actions of the Israeli state and the unflagging support it receives from the US and its allies, is neither to celebrate violence, nor to equivocate on the value of innocent lives. Civilian deaths, regardless of nationality, are tragic and unacceptable. Yet to act as though the history of violence began with Hamas’s attacks on October 7, 2023 is to display a reckless indifference to history as well as to both Palestinian and Israeli lives. In order for violence to stop, the conditions that produce violence must stop.
The blockade of Gaza has lasted 16 years; the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza has lasted 56 years; the dispossession of Palestinians of their lands and homes across historic Palestine has lasted three-quarters of a century, since the 1948 establishment of Israel as an ethno-supremacist state. It is not without reason that observers—including both international and Israeli human rights groups—now characterize Israel’s control over the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea as a system of apartheid.
(06.04.2024)
Wegen ihrer Unterschrift unter eine Solidaritätserklärung mit Palästina ist die US-Philosophin Nancy Fraser eine Gastprofessur los. Die Universität zu Köln teilte am Freitag mit, alle Veranstaltungen der Albertus-Magnus-Professur 2024 abzusagen. Fraser habe im November 2023 den offenen Brief »Philosophy for Palestine« unterzeichnet, in dem »das Existenzrecht Israels als ›ethno-suprematistischer Staat‹ seit seiner Gründung 1948 faktisch in Frage gestellt« und der Terrorangriff palästinensischer Militanter vom 7. Oktober 2023 »relativiert« werde.
(14th May,1948)
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
(11. August 2018)
Die Unabhängigkeitserklärung von Israel und das “Nationalstaatsgesetz” der Regierung Netanyahu in der wörtlichen Gegenüberstellung.
(14th May,1948)
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
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(today)
Social-science research shows that, unlike in the past century, 21st-century democracies don’t become dictatorships through force or military coups, but through gradual legislative changes. Emerging dictatorships exploit democracy‘s tools such as freedom of expression in order to deceive the public. Step by step they pass laws that empty the country’s democratic institutions of their moral values.
Before you know it, the country is left with an empty shell of democratic institutions, and the citizens remain without protection from the government‘s arbitrariness and without means for returning to the status quo.
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis from different walks of life – secular and religious, left and right, Jews and Arabs – have taken to the streets to make their voices heard.
he protests themselves have spanned the northernmost tip of the country to Eilat in the far south. They have been constant in the big cities – Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa – but have also extended to isolated kibbutzim and even a couple of West Bank settlements; there are protests in city squares, historical monuments, highway bridges and hi-tech parks.
(14th May,1948)
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
(14th May,1948)
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
– Netanyahu‘s defense minister publicly calls on him to halt judicial overhaul legislation
– Protesters erect massive slab bearing Israel‘s Declaration of Independence in central Tel Aviv
– Police source: over 20,000 protesting in Haifa
– Tens of thousands rally in Tel Aviv‘s Kaplan Street
– Israel‘s government preparing anti-judicial legislative blitz ahead of Passover recess
– Israeli weapons manufacturing employees warn judicial overhaul will harm industry
– Hundreds protesting in front of Defense Minister Gallant‘s home
(March 9, 2023)
“After 75 years, it’s time for a constitution for the State of Israel,” which would fix Israel’s government system, protect human rights and enshrine the Declaration of Independence, MQG head Eliad Shraga said during a press conference at the group’s judicial reform protest tent in front of the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. The movement presented the proposal to President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday night, he said.
Lapid said that while “judicial activism” should be limited, “a democratic state cannot exist without a strong and independent court.”
In addition, the Yesh Atid leader said that the judicial appointment committee would have its composition changed so that the Supreme Court is “diverse in its composition and opinions, but will ensure that politicians — from any side — will not have control over the selection of judges.”
On his Facebook page, the former prime minister argued that this constitution should begin with the first paragraph of Israel‘s 1948 Declaration of Independence, which states that the land of Israel is the cradle of the Jewish people.
According to Lapid, this constitution should be composed of three fundamental laws: the first would be a declaration of the superiority of the fundamental laws of the country, and would subject all authorities to restrictions established by law.
(14TH MAY,1948)
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
(14TH MAY,1948)
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
(14TH MAY,1948)
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
As we speak, sparks of collective will, determination, and unity are being ignited. If we get pushed over the edge, fire will break out. And if attempts to dismantle the Israeli Declaration of Independence persist, its flames will grow and spread.
The day a million citizens take to the streets, this government will crumble.
I don‘t know how long it will take, or how much harm will be done on the way. What I do know is that at the end of the day – we will prevail.
(14TH MAY,1948)
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
(14TH MAY,1948)
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
Verhandelt wird nun, ob die Knesset künftig die Möglichkeit erhält, sich über solche Entscheidungen in einer erneuten Abstimmung hinwegsetzen zu können. Dann könnte das Parlament Gesetze beschließen, die den grundlegenden Gesetzen Israels widersprechen.
Israel’s right-wing majority considers the Supreme Court‘s authority “overreaching” – and the expected incoming coalition plans to pass legislation known as the “override clause” giving parliament the power to reverse rulings from the high court.
Members of the likely upcoming coalition government under Benjamin Netanyahu are said to be in favor of a proposal that would enable a 61-Knesset-member majority to overrule the Supreme Court and cancel its decisions. Netanyahu, who was initially reluctant to include the controversial override clause in coalition negotiations, agreed to do so following pressure from his allies in the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism and Religious Zionist parties.
Yitzhak Arad, a veteran of Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, organized an anti-Netanyahu protest the other day for residents of his assisted-living center in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Hasharon.
About 50 people attended. “We would have easily gotten a bigger crowd, but we didn’t want to violate the social distancing rules or endanger anyone’s health,” says Arad, a Holocaust survivor who served as director of Yad Vashem (Israel’s Shoah memorial center) for over 20 years.
Its Declaration of Independence guarantees “complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex,” as well as a guarantee of freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture.
Theodor Herzl, Chaim Weizmann, Zeev Jabotinsky, David Ben Gurion and Golda Meir always emphasized the need to combine Jewish nationalism with universal humanism. So now, when Israel’s government appears to be tarnishing the sacred value of equality, many supporters feel it is turning its back on Jewish heritage, the Zionist ethos and the Israeli spirit.
World Jewish Congress chief and former Netanyahu confidant urges Israeli leaders to ‚rethink their destructive actions‘ in New York Times op-ed
One of the most significant threats to Jewish nationalism, as expressed in the nation-state law, is Arab representation in the Knesset, according to a portion of the Israeli population. So I tell you, the Arab citizen: Do not give the right-wing government a prize – despair and isolation. You all have the political power to reshape public discourse in Israel by participating in elections. Use it.
And to all the citizens of Israel, from every tribe, I call to join the struggle against the elimination of democracy, to develop an Israeli society, pluralistic and prosperous, with the participation of minorities in the economy and in politics.
In her speech, Livni railed against the right-wing government, called for early elections and said the opposition would pass the Declaration of Independence as a basic law in lieu of the nation-state law passed by the right-wing coalition on July 19.
The nation-state law was designed to erase the Declaration of Independence and re-invent Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, rather than as a Jewish and democratic state