On July 8, 2021, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected the petitions challenging Basic Law: Israel as the Nation of the Jewish People, enacted almost three years earlier. The so-called Hasson decision not only raises important questions about the relationship between legal and political struggles, it also calls into question the constitutional foundations of equality and democracy.
Israel's Nation-State Law can be seen as an expression of the kind of democratic authoritarian populism that appears to be spreading globally. But it is no time to give up the game and there are examples that show how it is possible to counter the narrative of democratic authoritarian populism.
Much has been, and will be, written about what the Basic Law – Jewish Nation-State does, but attention is also due to how it does what it does. . The use of language in the Nation’s Law is so troubling in its sophist concealment of the meanings of the norms it encodes, that it creates, perhaps, injustice of the second order.
The opponents of Israel's Nation-State Law can be roughly divided into two camps. The first camp views the law and especially its Article 1 as racist while the second camp cosiders it as conflicting with basic democratic values because it does not include the right of equality. This group also views Article 1 as simply declarative, as from the moment of its establishment the State of Israel has defined itself as a Jewish state. How does Israeli law perceive racism? And how tenable is the proposition of the Law being merely declaratory?
The Nation-State Law saga revealed in Israel’s constitutional politics three constitutional narratives while only two are conventionally recognized. . This third narrative is usually disregarded by the Israeli Jewish public and perceived as marginal or even as an existential threat. But in the debates about the Nation-State Law the force of this narrative became apparent and it is about time to shed light on the presence and the value of this alternative narrative.
The enactment of Basic Law: Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People on July 19th, 2018, triggered an intense public debate, not only in Israel. But what are the implications of this law? In particular, how is it likely to affect minorities, the right of Israel’s Arab-Palestinian minority to internal self-determination, and the possible development of all-encompassing social solidarity in Israel?
13. September 2025
Giovanni Capoccia
12. September 2025
Anne Peters
12. September 2025
Anne Peters