Defining Israel

Defining Israel PDF Author: Simon Rabinovitch
Publisher: Hebrew Union College Press
ISBN: 0878201637
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 428

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Book Description
Defining Israel: The Jewish State, Democracy, and the Law is the first book in any language devoted to the controversial passage of Israel's nation-state law. Israel has no constitution, and though it calls itself the Jewish state there is no agreement among Israelis on how that fact should be reflected in the government's laws or by its courts. Since the 1990s a number of civil society groups and legislators have drafted constitutions and proposed Basic Laws with constitutional standing that would clarify what it means for Israel to be a "Jewish and democratic state." Are these bills liberal or chauvinist? Are they a defense of the Knesset or an attack on the independence of the courts? Is their intention democratic or anti-democratic? The fight over the nation-state law-whether to have one and what should be in it-toppled the 19th Knesset's governing coalition and, even after its passage on July 29, 2018, remains a point of contention among Israel's lawmakers and increasingly the Israeli public. Defining Israel brings together influential scholars, journalists, and politicians, observers and participants, opponents and proponents, Jews and Arabs, all debating the merits and meaning of Israel's nation-state law. Together with translations of each draft law, the final law, and other key documents, the essays and sources in Defining Israel are essential to understand the ongoing debate over what it means for Israel to be a Jewish and democratic state.

Defining Israel

Defining Israel PDF Author: Simon Rabinovitch
Publisher: Hebrew Union College Press
ISBN: 0878201637
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 428

Get Book Here

Book Description
Defining Israel: The Jewish State, Democracy, and the Law is the first book in any language devoted to the controversial passage of Israel's nation-state law. Israel has no constitution, and though it calls itself the Jewish state there is no agreement among Israelis on how that fact should be reflected in the government's laws or by its courts. Since the 1990s a number of civil society groups and legislators have drafted constitutions and proposed Basic Laws with constitutional standing that would clarify what it means for Israel to be a "Jewish and democratic state." Are these bills liberal or chauvinist? Are they a defense of the Knesset or an attack on the independence of the courts? Is their intention democratic or anti-democratic? The fight over the nation-state law-whether to have one and what should be in it-toppled the 19th Knesset's governing coalition and, even after its passage on July 29, 2018, remains a point of contention among Israel's lawmakers and increasingly the Israeli public. Defining Israel brings together influential scholars, journalists, and politicians, observers and participants, opponents and proponents, Jews and Arabs, all debating the merits and meaning of Israel's nation-state law. Together with translations of each draft law, the final law, and other key documents, the essays and sources in Defining Israel are essential to understand the ongoing debate over what it means for Israel to be a Jewish and democratic state.

The Dynamics of Exclusionary Constitutionalism

The Dynamics of Exclusionary Constitutionalism PDF Author: Mazen Masri
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1509902538
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
What does Israel's definition as a 'Jewish and democratic' state mean? How does it affect constitutional law? How does it play out in the daily life of the people living in Israel? This book provides a unique and detailed examination of the consequences of the 'Jewish and democratic' definition. It explores how the definition affects the internal ordering of the state, the operation of the law, and the ways it is used to justify, protect and regenerate certain features of Israeli constitutional law. It also considers the relationship between law and settler-colonialism, and how this relationship manifests itself in the constitutional order. The Dynamics of Exclusionary Constitutionalism offers a novel perspective on the Jewish and democratic definition rooted in constitutional theory and informed by a socio-legal approach. Relying on a wide range of court cases and statutes as well as secondary sources, the book shows how the definition is deeply embedded in the constitutional structure, and operates, as a matter of law, in a manner that concentrates political power in the hands of the Jewish citizens and excludes the Palestinian Arab citizens in Israel from the political process. Mazen Masri's study is a timely intervention in an increasingly important question, and is essential reading for those who want to understand Israel's character, its relationship with the constitutional order, and its impact on society.

Israel and the Family of Nations

Israel and the Family of Nations PDF Author: Alexander Yakobson
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 0415464412
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Amnon Rubinstein and Alexander Yakobson explore the nature of Israel's identity as a Jewish state, how that is compatible with liberal democratic norms and is comparable with a number of European states.

Deepening the Dialogue

Deepening the Dialogue PDF Author: Stanley Davids
Publisher: CCAR Press
ISBN: 0881233536
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
Using the vision embedded in Israel's Declaration of Independence as a template, this anthology presents a unique and comprehensive dialogue between North American Jews and Israelis about the present and future of the State of Israel. With each essay published in both Hebrew and English, in one volume, Deepening the Dialogue is the first of its kind, outlining cultural barriers as well as the immediate need to come together in conversation around the vision of a democratic solution for our nation state.

Israel's Higher Law

Israel's Higher Law PDF Author: Steven V. Mazie
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 9780739114858
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
In Israel's Higher Law, Steven V. Mazie sheds new light on the relationship between liberalism and religion through a detailed assessment of the Jewish state. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Israeli citizens, this compelling work scrutinizes the ways in which Israelis conceptualize and debate their polity's religion-state arrangement.

Blood and Religion

Blood and Religion PDF Author: Jonathan Cook
Publisher: Pluto Press (UK)
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
What does Israel hope to achieve with its recent withdrawal from Gaza and the building of a 700km wall around the West Bank? Jonathan Cook, who has reported on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during the Second Intifada, presents a lucid account of the Jewish state's motives. The heart of the issue, he argues, is demography. Israel fears the moment when the region’s Palestinians – Israel's own Palestinian citizens and those in the Occupied Territories – become a majority. Inevitable comparisons with apartheid in South Africa will be drawn. The book charts Israel’s increasingly desperate responses to its predicament: -- military repression of Palestinian dissent on both sides of the Green Line -- accusations that Israel's Palestinian citizens and the Palestinian Authority are secretly conspiring to subvert the Jewish state from within -- a ban on marriages between Israel’s Palestinian population and Palestinians living under occupation to prevent a right of return ‘through the back door’ -- the redrawing of the Green Line to create an expanded, fortress state where only Jewish blood and Jewish religion count Ultimately, concludes the author, these abuses will lead to a third, far deadlier intifada.

Israel and its Palestinian Citizens

Israel and its Palestinian Citizens PDF Author: Nadim N. Rouhana
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107044839
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 463

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Book Description
This volume examines the status of the Palestinian citizens in Israel and explores ethnic privileging and the dynamics of social conflict.

Marriage and Divorce in the Jewish State

Marriage and Divorce in the Jewish State PDF Author: Susan M. Weiss
Publisher: UPNE
ISBN: 1611683653
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
A comprehensive look at how rabbinical courts control Israeli marriage and divorce

Jewish State Or Israeli Nation?

Jewish State Or Israeli Nation? PDF Author: Boas Evron
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
" --Baruch Kimmerling, The Hebrew UniversityBoas Evron concludes that Israel should become a territorial state that would accommodate its sizeable non-Jewish minority in a truly democratic way.

Building Democracy on Sand

Building Democracy on Sand PDF Author: Arye Carmon
Publisher: Hoover Press
ISBN: 0817923160
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
More than seven decades after the founding of Israel, the momentum to establish a Jewish state has led to remarkable achievements in the nation's “hardware”: stable structures in government, the military, and the economy. At the same time, the “operating system,” the guidelines that accommodate human diversity and enable coexistence, is still riddled with weaknesses. Arye Carmon diagnoses the critical vulnerabilities at the heart of Israeli democracy and the obstacles to forming a sustainable national consciousness. The author merges touching narratives about his own life in Israel with insightful ruminations on the Jewish diaspora and the arc of Israel's history, illuminating the conflicts between Jewish identities and between democratic values and the halacha—the collective body of Jewish religious laws.There is no consensus on the characteristics that define Israel as a state that is both Jewish and democratic. Rather, the struggle between a secular and a religious Jewish identity, amid voices promoting ethnocentric nationalism, threatens to sever the ties that strengthen democracy.This cultural fragility has far-reaching implications for Israeli institutions and deepens societal rifts. Israel lacks a constitution to bind its democracy and a bill of rights to safeguard the freedoms of its citizens, enable the inclusion of diverse outlooks and beliefs, and underpin the norms of its civil society.