Open gallery view Zeev Elkin at the Knesset. Credit: Olivier Fitoussi

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he would push forward a draft law specifying that Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people, scheduled to go to vote at the Ministerial Committee on Legislation later in the day.

"The justice system, which recognizes the democratic nature of Israel, will also have to recognize its nature as the national state of the Jewish people," Netanyahu told ministers at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. "We will advance the nation state law today, and while it will go through many changes, at the end of the day we will be able to make clear that Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people, along with a guarantee of equal rights for all of its citizens," Netanyahu said.

The current iteration of the bill — Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People — is sponsored by coalition whip MK Zeev Elkin (Likud), and is considered the most extreme of a series of similar legislative proposals that have been raised this year. In addition to giving Israel’s nation-state status for the Jewish people the force of constitutional law, it specifies that Jewish law is to be a source and “inspiration” for new legislation and judicial rulings. A previously scrapped clause, under which the Arabic language would no longer be an official language of the state, instead enjoying “special status,” has been restored.

Over the past two weeks, Netanyahu has tacked rightward, and his latest declaration follows this trend. The unflattering polls, the prospect of early elections, as well as the upcoming Likud primaries in January apparently forced him to significantly radicalize his messages. MK Danny Danon, who is challenging Netanyahu for the Likud leadership, is waging a campaign portraying the prime minister as promoting the policy of the centrist-leftist parties and abandoning the Likud path.

During a Likud faction meeting last week, the prime minister called on Arab Israelis protesting against Israel to move to Palestinian-ruled areas. "To all those who demonstrate against Israel and in favor of a Palestinian state, I say something simple: I invite you to move there; we won't give you any trouble," Netanyahu said. He added, "We must unite against this reality. It's not the time for divisive comments."

The previous evening, at a conference of the Likud Central Committee, Netanyahu made it clear he had no intention of giving up lands as part of a diplomatic arrangement. "I have news for you: You can do it also without evacuating [lands]," he told the Central Committee members.

War of versions

It is thought that Elkin is now pushing the more extreme version of Jewish Nation State bill, which would subordinate the state’s democratic nature to its Jewish character, in order to protest the lack of progress by a panel established by Netanyahu and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni for the purpose of hammering out a compromise version of the bill. Elkin reportedly fears the committee is simply trying to buy time and does not intend to really advance the matter. The committee has met just twice, and has not convened since the early summer.

Two weeks ago Netanyahu and Livni met with Prof. Ruth Gavison, an expert in Israeli constitutional law, who is leading the process of translating the committee’s recommendation into a bill. They are scheduled to meet again within a few weeks to discuss the issue.

Hatnuah party officials said that if Netanyahu would push through the bill without going via the panel, such a move would be deemed tantamount to a declaration of war.

MK Ayelet Shaked, Habayit Hayehudi's faction chair, is expected to ask Livni to finalize an agreed upon version for the bill within a month. "The committee that is supposed to move the agreed upon formula ahead is pretty much dissipating the bill's advance," said Shaked. "There have been no hearings on the formula so far, only philosophical discussions."

Shaked added that if an agreed-upon formula were not found within a month, she would reconsider moving forward with the version she had put together with Yariv Levin (Likud) – a more moderate version than Elkin's.

Elkin knows that if he can push the bill through the ministerial committee, meaning it has the backing of the government coalition, and through its first legislative reading during the current Knesset session, the legislative process could be continued in the next Knesset.

But many coalition MKs say that even in these circumstances the controversial law is unlikely to be passed.

“The cabinet ministers of the right have discovered that it is possible to kill two birds with one stone,” said one cabinet minister who is a member of the ministerial committee. He was speaking to Haaretz on condition of anonymity.

“Both to support a controversial proposal in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, and also to make sure one of the moderate ministers later appeals it. That is how they win points with their voters, while knowing there is a safety net” that will prevent such proposals from being passed into law in the end,” he said. Livni and Finance Minister Yair Lapid have both said in the past that they would block the current version of the bill from advancing.