Summary
The Israeli Supreme Court election appeal, E.A. 2/88, Ben Shalom v. Chairman of Central Elections Committee, 43(2) P.D. 221, cited by Dowty for the court’s minimal definition of what acceptance of “Israel as a Jewish state” requires of a party list: at the least, maintenance of a Jewish majority, the right of Jews to immigrate (the Law of Return), and ties with Jewish communities outside Israel (The Jewish State: A Century Later, lines 5701-5800).
Details
- Dowty’s Chapter 9 records the 1985 election law barring lists that deny Israel’s existence “as the state of the Jewish people”, and a Supreme Court majority’s minimal definition of that requirement — Jewish majority, Law of Return preference, ties with Jews outside Israel — on which, Dowty notes, even a list advocating repeal of the Law of Return by parliamentary means would be disqualified (The Jewish State: A Century Later, lines 4193-4260).
- In the Epilogue Dowty returns to the court’s ruling in dealing with the eligibility of parties to participate in elections, and takes its three elements as the minimal content of the state’s Jewishness: none of these features, he argues, are inherently inconsistent with liberal democracy, and none are in fact unique to Israel (lines 5701-5800). The Epilogue’s note gives the citation as E.A. (Election Appeal) 2/88 Ben Shalom v. Chairman of Central Elections Committee 43(2) P.D. 221 (lines 5701-5800).
Related pages
The Jewish State: A Century Later, Ethnic Democracy, Consociationalism