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Discriminatory Laws Database

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Summary

Adalah’s Discriminatory Laws Database as combined in this file — 72 law pages, fetched 2026-10-06 — presenting Israeli laws, amendments and orders that Adalah characterises as discriminatory against Palestinians, each entry giving the law’s title, theme, status, year, a description, in the fuller entries its main provisions, the context of its enactment, Adalah’s account of why it is discriminatory, legal challenges and international criticism, with links to full texts, additional documents and press releases (Discriminatory Laws Database, lines 1-4). The entries run in reverse chronological order from a 2026 ban on employing teachers with Palestinian Authority degrees through laws of 2023-2011 on citizenship revocation, hospital hametz, warrantless searches, discharged-soldier benefits, police subordination to the National Security Minister, withholding bodies, the 2018 Nation-State Basic Law, stop-and-frisk, the 2016 Counter-Terrorism Law, expulsion of MKs, NGO funding transparency, stone-throwing penalties and related measures, the 2011 Admissions Committees, Citizenship Amendment No. 10, Nakba and foreign-funding laws, and then, in shorter Description-only entries, back through detention, interrogation, land, planning, citizenship, language, religion and emergency laws of 2010-1939, ending with the 1950 Law of Return and Absentees’ Property Law, the 1952 Citizenship and Entry into Israel Laws, the 1953 land and education laws, and the 1945 Defense Regulations Regulation 125 and the 1939 Trade with the Enemy Ordinance.

What the file is

  • The Adalah web database at the URL above, delivered as one HTML file combining 72 law pages and a plain-text copy of the same content, about 36,502 words in the text copy. The copy has no page markers, so locators are line numbers. The text copy is 3,094 lines by the verification count (3,093 newlines plus one).
  • No publication date for the database itself is stated in the copy. Its entries carry their own years, from 2026 back, in this part, to 2011, and internal material is dated as late as a petition filed 22 February 2026 and the 2026 teaching-staff law. The database is a living web resource; this file is the state of it when fetched on 2026-10-06, as its header states.
  • Entry structure varies. The longest entries (the 2026, 2023, 2022, 2018 and 2016 laws, and the 2011 Admissions Committees and Nakba Laws) give Description, Main provisions with quoted statutory text, Context, Why is it discriminatory?, Legal challenges and International criticism. Most of the 2015-2011 entries and all of the entries from 2010 back to 1939 are Description only, with Full Text language links and, in some, press releases, additional documents and petition listings. Elisions inside quoted provisions are marked ”[…]”, ”…” or ”….” in the copy itself, and footnote markers ([1]-[9] and similar) are reproduced with their notes in some entries and not in others.
  • The copy’s spelling, punctuation and numbering slips are recorded as printed in the reading notes and under Open questions, not corrected: for example “Ditchter” for the Nation-State Law’s sponsor in one passage against “Dichter” in the next, “Jewish-Palestininan cities” in the warrantless-searches entry, and a missing verb in “the law discrimination against individuals” in the Hametz entry.

Section by section

  • Header (lines 1-4). “72 law pages combined; fetched 2026-10-06” from https://www.adalah.org/en/law/index.

  • The Law to Prevent the Employment of Teaching Staff with Academic Degrees from Palestinian Authority Institutions (Legislative Amendments), 2026 (lines 5-75; theme Education; Active). A categorical ban on employing PA-degree holders as teachers, principals or supervisors in Israel and East Jerusalem, amending the State Education Law (1953) (new s.18B) and the Supervision of Schools Law (1969); applies to enrolled students who have not completed a first year; the only exception requires a second Israeli bachelor’s degree, an Israeli teaching certificate and a Director General determination of no “harmful influence”. Adalah records sponsors’ admissions of no pedagogical or security purpose, Ministry of Education data that approximately 58% of East Jerusalem’s 6,700 teachers hold PA degrees, a projected shortage of 540 teachers there, and its own challenge, HCJ 68074-02-26, filed 22 February 2026.

  • Law for Revocation of Citizenship or Residency of a Terrorist who Receives Compensation for Carrying out a Terrorist Act, 2023 (lines 76-164; Civil and Political Rights, Citizenship; Active). Amendments to the Citizenship Law 5712-1952 (new (b1)) and the Entry Into Israel Law 5712-1952 (new (a1)) revoking citizenship or residency, with deportation to PA territory or Gaza, for a person convicted of a Counter-Terrorism Law “act of terrorism” or Penal Law ss.97-99 offences, sentenced to prison, and found by the Interior Minister to have received PA money in connection with terrorism; court decision within 30 days; the track applies also to a person left without any citizenship. Adalah sets it against the 2008 “breach of loyalty” track and the Zayoud case (July 2021), in which Interior Ministry data showed none of 31 considered revocations involved a Jewish citizen.

  • “Hametz Law” — The Patient’s Rights Act (Amendment No. 13) 2023 (lines 165-229; theme blank in the copy; Active). New s.9a authorises a hospital director to prohibit or restrict bringing leavened bread into the hospital for Passover kosher standards. Adalah presents it as re-enacting the hospital hametz policy the Supreme Court held illegal in 2020 on its petition (filed February 2018), a form of religious coercion affecting non-Jewish patients, visitors and employees, in particular Palestinian citizens, who are in the entry’s words mainly Muslims, Christians and Druze.

  • Combating Illegal Weapons Bill (Legislative Amendment and Temporary Order), 2023 (lines 230-308; Civil and Political Rights; Active). Passed 28 March 2023; Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Arrest and Search) Amendment No. 15 (temporary order, one year from 15 May 2023) authorising warrantless entry and search for weapons, substantial parts, or camera/documentation evidence; Penal Law Amendment No. 145 setting five years for a substantial weapon part and three years for a non-substantial part under s.144. Adalah notes the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law of 2003 has been renewed 23 times, quotes the explanatory notes’ “wave of violence and criminality, especially in Arab society…”, and gives 244 Palestinians killed in criminal incidents in Israel in 2023.

  • Absorption of Discharged Soldiers Law — Benefits for Discharged Soldiers (lines 309-393; Education, Military Service; Year given 2022). Article 7a (Amendment No. 12, 26 June 2010): tuition benefits (up to 9,521 NIS in the first year; a 20 million NIS annual fund) for discharged soldiers studying in National Priority Areas, including West Bank settlements. Article 7a(1), the “From Uniforms to Studies Law” (Amendment No. 24, 23 May 2022): three-quarters of annual tuition for defined combatant categories. Adalah treats military service as a proxy excluding most Palestinian citizens, quoting Amnesty International’s apartheid report, CERD’s 2012 concluding observations and the US State Department’s 2013 report, and National Insurance Institute 2020 figures of 56.6% poverty among Palestinian families in Israel against 37.5% among Jewish families.

  • Amendment to the Police Ordinance (No. 37) — 2022 “Ben-Gvir Law” (lines 394-490; Civil and Political Rights; Active). Passed 28 December 2022; new ss.8B-8D subordinate the police to the Government and the Minister of National Security, who sets policy, priorities and general investigations policy after hearing the Attorney General and consulting the Commissioner. Adalah attributes the amendment to the Likud-Jewish Power coalition agreement giving Itamar Ben-Gvir control of the police, records his indictment and conviction history as given in the entry and his flag, demolition and August 2023 statements, and its petition HCJ 2985/23 (filed 17 April 2023), joined with four others, on which an order nisi issued 18 June 2023.

  • Counter-Terrorism Law (Amendment No. 3) — 2018 (lines 491-621; Civil and Political Rights; Active). New ss.70A-70B authorise a district commander to delay release of the body of an “assailant” and impose funeral conditions — participants, route, timing, prohibited items, in special cases burial location, and a guarantee deposit — until conditions are met or 10 days pass. Adalah traces the practice through the withholding of Ya’akub Abu Al-Qi’an’s body in January 2017 and the Jabareen ruling, the Knesset’s passage of the amendment on 7 March 2018, a parallel military policy under which over 370 bodies were estimated withheld as of March 2022, and the UN Human Rights Committee’s 2022 concluding observations paras. 32-33, quoted in full in the entry.

  • Basic Law: Israel – The Nation-State of the Jewish People, 2018 (lines 622-768; themes as printed run together: 1967 Occupied Territories, Civil and Political Rights, Land and Planning Rights, Culture and Language, National Identity Symbols; Active). The entry quotes Articles 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 (Article 2 is not reproduced): “The Land of Israel is the historic national home of the Jewish people, in which the State of Israel was established.”; national self-determination in the State “unique to the Jewish people”; “A greater, united Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.”; Hebrew the state’s language, Arabic in special status; and “The state views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value, and will act to encourage it and to promote and to consolidate its establishment.” Adalah records the 2011 introduction, the sponsors’ and Ayelet Shaked’s statements, its 7 August 2018 petition, the Supreme Court’s 10-1 rejection on 8 July 2021 (Justice Kara dissenting), and criticism by CERD (2020), CESCR (2019), the Human Rights Committee (2022), four Special Rapporteurs (2018) and South Africa at the 2023 Universal Periodic Review. Palestinian citizens are given as 21% of the population and approximately 1.65 million people.

  • “Stop-and-Frisk” Law — Amendment No. 5 to the Authorities for Maintaining Public Security Law 5765-2005, 2016 (lines 769-855; Civil and Political Rights; Active). New s.3B permits a body search on reasonable suspicion a person is about to commit a violent offence, suspicion arising among other factors from “violent behavior in a public place, including verbal violence or threats, or a behavior that is otherwise threatening or frightening”; expired temporary s.6B permitted searches of any person in a declared area for up to 21 days at a time (expired 31 December 2017). Adalah gives 2011-2015 arrests as 60% “non-Jewish”, May 2021 arrests as over 90% Palestinian, incitement-case figures for 2018-2022, the killing of Mussa Hassouna in Lod in May 2021, and a three-day Eid al-Fitr stop-and-frisk declaration between Herzliya and Bat Yam.

  • “Anti-Terror” (Counter-Terrorism) Law, 2016 (lines 856-980; Criminal Law and Procedures, Civil and Political Rights, Freedom of Association; Active). The entry summarises the Law — 96 hours before a judge, hearings in the detainee’s absence, secret evidence, Defense Minister designation — and quotes the Article 2A “terrorist act” conditions (listed motive; fear-or-compulsion intention; listed serious harms, including to property, religious objects, infrastructure and the economy or environment) and the two-limb “terrorist organization” definition, with offences and penalties: heading or directing 25 years (§20), membership five years (§22), service or resources five years (§23), identification three years and incitement five years (both §24, as printed), failure to prevent three years (§26), threat seven years (§27), preparations 15 years (§28), property transactions seven years (§31). Uses cited include the October 2021 designation of six Palestinian human rights and civil society organizations. The Human Rights Committee’s 2022 concern at “vague and overbroad definitions” is quoted.

  • “Expulsion of MKs” Law — Amendment No. 44 to Basic Law: Knesset, 2016 (lines 981-1094; Civil and Political Rights, Political Participation; Active). Passed 20 July 2016; Article 42a(c) permits termination of an MK’s membership by 90 MKs, on a House Committee proposal adopted by three-quarters of its members at the request of 70 MKs including at least 10 non-government MKs, where Article 7a(a)(2) (incitement to racism) or (3) (support for an armed struggle by an enemy state or a terrorist organization against Israel) applies. Adalah traces the 2013 “Zoabi Law” bill and the 2016 meeting of three Joint List MKs with families of killed East Jerusalem Palestinians, quotes MK Mickey Rosenthal, “It’s a law of two words: Arabs out.”, and records the unanimous rejection of HCJ 10214/16 on 27 May 2018.

  • NGO “Funding Transparency” Law, 2016 (lines 1095-1117; Freedom of Association; Active; Description only). NGOs receiving 50% or more of their funding from foreign governments must state that fact in publications, reports to MKs, protocolled hearings and oral discussions where public officials work; violation fine NIS 29,200 (c. US $7,500); a Knesset name-tag requirement was removed from the 18 January 2016 draft. Private donations are not covered.

  • Mandatory minimum sentences for convicted stone-throwers — Amendment No. 120 to the Israeli Penal Code, 2015 (lines 1118-1140; Criminal Law and Procedures; Active; Description only). Minimum of one-fifth of the maximum — two years where the maximum is 10 years (no proof of intent to cause harm required under the earlier related law) or four years where it is 20 years (proof of intent); a temporary order valid for three years.

  • Revoking child allowances from parents of children convicted of security offenses — Amendment No. 163 to the National Insurance Act, 2015 (lines 1141-1161; Economic Rights; Active; Description only). Child allowances, which the entry notes belong to the children under the National Insurance Law, are stripped from parents of a child convicted of charges classified as security offences.

  • Fines on parents of stone-throwers — Amendment No. 20 to the Youth (Care and Supervision) Law, 2015 (lines 1162-1182; Criminal Law and Procedures; Active; Description only). Direct fines on parents of minors convicted of a Penal Code offence, stone-throwing given as the example; Adalah objects that there can be no “vicarious liability” on parents (single quotation marks as printed).

  • Order stripping essential procedural safeguards from “security” detainees — Amendment No. 4 to the Criminal Procedure Law (Detainee Suspected of Security Offence) (Temporary Order), 2015 (lines 1183-1203; Criminal Law and Procedures; Active; Description only). Re-extends the 2006 law to 31 December 2016: up to 96 hours before a judge (against 48), up to 35 days without indictment (against 30), hearings in the suspect’s absence in the stated condition, and denial of a lawyer for up to 21 days (against 48 hours).

  • Increased Governance and Raising the Qualifying Election Threshold — Bill to Amend Basic Law: The Government (1160), 2014 (lines 1204-1241; Political Participation; Active; Description only). Enacted March 2014; the Knesset threshold rises from 2% to 3.25%. The Supreme Court rejected Yehuda Gutman’s petition in January 2015 (decision 14 January 2015); Adalah and ACRI appeared as amicus curiae (21 December 2014).

  • Civil Wrongs Law — Amendment No. 8 (Liability of the State), 2012 (lines 1242-1280; 1967 Occupied Territories; Active; Description only, with a linked position-paper sub-item at lines 1275-1280). Redefines “act of war” by nature, purpose, location or danger to the force; lets the state raise the no-liability defence preliminarily, to be decided without evidence; extends the enemy-state exemption to residents of a territory declared “enemy territory”, retroactive to 12 September 2005; and confines relevant cases to the Southern and Jerusalem District courts. A 2005 Supreme Court ruling against a “conflict zones” exemption and a 2006 ruling are noted.

  • Criminal Procedure Law — Interrogating Suspects — Amendment No. 6, 2012 (lines 1281-1315; Criminal Law and Procedures; Active; Description only). Passed 4 July 2012; extends the exemption of “security suspects” from the audiovisual recording requirement to July 2015; the requirement does not apply to the Israel Security Agency (ISA / GSS / Shabak). The 21 December 2010 petition by Adalah, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Al Mezan and PCATI was dismissed in February 2013.

  • Income Tax Ordinance — Amendment No. 191, 2012 (lines 1316-1340; 1967 Occupied Territories; Active; Description only). Passed July 2012; a 35% tax exemption on donations to institutions promoting “Zionist settlement”, including settlement establishment or expansion in the West Bank including East Jerusalem.

  • Israeli Prisons Ordinance Amendment No. 43 — Prisoner-Attorney Meetings, 2012 (lines 1341-1371; Criminal Law and Procedures; Active; Description only). Passed 14 May 2012; the IPS Director may restrict the number of lawyers visiting a prisoner or group for three months, plus three months with the Attorney General’s approval; a district court may extend for up to six months at a time without examining evidence.

  • Israeli Prisons Ordinance — Amendment No. 40 (Meetings with Lawyers), 2011 (lines 1372-1397; Criminal Law and Procedures; Active; Description only). The IPS may bar a “security” prisoner’s lawyer meetings on suspicion of information transfer to a terror organization: 96 hours (previously 24), up to 14 days with the state prosecutor (previously 5), district-court extensions to six months and a maximum of one year (previously 21 days and three months), and unlimited Supreme Court extensions after one year. Over 4,600 Palestinian political prisoners were held as “security prisoners” as of May 2012.

  • “Anti-Boycott Law” — Prevention of Damage to the State of Israel through Boycott, 2011 (lines 1398-1523; Civil and Political Rights; Active). Section 1 defines a boycott against the State of Israel by deliberate avoidance of economic, cultural or academic ties only because of ties with the State, an institution or an area under its control, in a way that may cause such damage; s.2 makes knowingly publishing a public call for a boycott a civil wrong where there is a reasonable probability the call will bring about a boycott, and removes the sufficient-justification defence for causing breach of a binding agreement by such a call; further provisions revoke tax exemptions, benefits, tender eligibility and funding. Adalah quotes initiator MK Ze’ev Elkin and the bill’s explanation, Human Rights Watch, Special Rapporteur Frank La Rue, Amnesty International, the Human Rights Committee (2014) and a joint civil-society statement, and records HCJ 2072/12: order nisi December 2012, judgment 15 April 2015 upholding the law while striking down s.2(C), compensation without proof of damage. Two linked sub-items follow the entry at lines 1514-1523: the Supreme Court decision summary of 15 April 2015 and excerpts of the petition.

  • Foreign Property Ownership — Israel Lands Law (Amendment No. 3), 2011 (lines 1524-1547; Theme: Land and Planning Rights; Active). Passed March 2011; no person or party, public or private, may sell land, rent property for over five years, or bequeath or transfer private ownership rights in Israel to “foreigners” — persons who are not residents or citizens of Israel, or Jews, who have the automatic right to immigrate under the Law of Return (1950), in the entry’s construction. Full Text links (English, Hebrew) and one additional document, Naamnih and Bishara, The Law of the Promised Land 2011: Between Absentees and Foreigners, May 2011, complete the entry; line 1548 is blank and the next entry begins at line 1549, so the entry has no lines after 1547.

  • “Admissions Committees Law” — Cooperative Societies Ordinance — Amendments No. 8 and 12, 2011 (lines 1549-1698; Land and Planning Rights; Active). Admissions committees of five members, including a Jewish Agency or World Zionist Organization representative, may refuse applicants on social-life and social-cultural-fabric suitability under ss.6B-6G as quoted; the entry gives 437 localities, more than 41% of all localities, and approximately 80% of the state’s territory, traces Qa’adan (2000) and Zubeidat (2007), records sponsors’ statements, the 2023 expansion to continued community towns of 400-700 households and beyond, HCJ 2504/11 (dismissed 5-4, 17 September 2014) and HCJ 7148/23, and CERD 2007 and 2020, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty criticism.

  • Citizenship Law — Amendment No. 10, 2011 (lines 1699-1729; Citizenship; Active; Description only). Enacted 28 March 2011; court revocation of citizenship as part of a sentence for treason, espionage and other listed offences, only for dual citizens or persons residing abroad, otherwise residency instead of citizenship; proposed after Ameer Makhoul’s arrest and indictment.

  • “Nakba Law” — Amendment No. 40 to the Budgets Foundations Law, 2011 (lines 1730-1827; Civil and Political Rights; Active). Section 3(B)‘s five unsupported-expenditure grounds are quoted; the Minister of Finance may reduce state sums to entities commemorating Independence Day as mourning or denying Israel as a Jewish and democratic state; context gives more than 750,000 Palestinians displaced in 1948, passage by 37 to 25 in March 2011, HCJ 3429/11 rejected 3-0 in January 2012 on ripeness, and Human Rights Watch, Special Rapporteur and CEDAW criticism.

  • “Foreign Government Funding Law” — Law on Disclosure Requirements for Recipients of Support from a Foreign State Entity, 2011 (lines 1828-1860; Freedom of Association; Active; Description only). Quarterly published reports on foreign-government funding, including undertakings; the World Zionist Organization, Jewish Agency, United Israel Appeal, Jewish National Fund and their subsidiaries are specifically exempted.

  • Law to Strip Payments from a Current or Former Member of Knesset due to a Crime, 2011 (lines 1861-1885; Economic Rights; Active; Description only). Salary and pensions may be withheld from MKs declared suspects, defendants or convicted of a crime punishable by at least ten years who do not appear at trial or investigation; drafted in response to Azmi Bishara’s 2007 exile, with no indictment filed against him in the entry’s account. Its Press Releases section contains only the word “test” as printed.

  • Extension of Detention — Criminal Procedure Law (Suspects of Security Offenses) (Temporary Order) — Amendment No. 2, 2010 (lines 1886-1932; Criminal Law and Procedures; Active; Description only). Enacted 20 December 2010; 96 hours before a judge, extensions up to 20 days at a time, hearings in the suspect’s absence, seeking to bypass the February 2010 Supreme Court striking-down of article 5 of the 2006 order.

  • “Negev Individual Settlements” — Negev Development Authority Law — Amendment No. 4, 2010 (lines 1933-1969; Land and Planning Rights; Active; Description only). Around 60 individual settlements over 81,000 dunams; Amendment No. 4, July 2010, provides for recognition of all of them, while unrecognized Bedouin villages with 90,000-100,000 inhabitants are denied status and basic services.

  • Land (Acquisition for Public Purposes) Ordinance — Amendment No. 10, 2010 (lines 1970-1995; Land and Planning Rights; Active; Description only). Confirms state ownership even if land was not used for the original purpose, allows 17 years of non-use, and bars return claims after transfer to a third party or 25 years; designed, in the entry’s account, to prevent Arab citizens reclaiming confiscated land.

  • “Pardon Law” or “Amnesty Law” — Termination of Proceedings and Deletion of Records in the Disengagement Plan Law, 2010 (lines 1997-2033; Civil and Political Rights; Active; Description only). Enacted 25 January 2010; exempts persons convicted over opposition to the 2005 Gaza disengagement, if not imprisoned, and deletes offences on request; HCJ 1213/10 rejection on 23 February 2012 is recorded.

  • Regional Councils Law (Date of General Elections) Special Amendment No. 6, 2009 (lines 2034-2078; Political Participation; Active; Description only). The Interior Minister may postpone a new regional council’s first election indefinitely; applied to Abu Basma, the Supreme Court ordered elections by 4 December 2012 in HCJ 3183/10, and the government split the council in October 2012.

  • Israel Land Administration Law — Amendment No. 7, 2009 (lines 2079-2111; Land and Planning Rights; Active; Description only). Broad land privatization, especially refugee and internally displaced persons’ land and settlement land in East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, state–JNF exchanges, and JNF representatives in a new Land Council.

  • National Priority Areas — The Economic Efficiency Law, 2009 (lines 2112-2148; Economic Rights; Active; Description only). Discretionary National Priority Area classification without criteria, against a 2006 Supreme Court ruling that a 1998 classification of 553 Jewish towns and 4 small Arab villages as A-status in education was unconstitutional; a 2010 contempt motion was dismissed in February 2011.

  • Child Vaccinations and Child Allowances — Economic Efficiency Law, 2009 (lines 2149-2179; Economic Rights; Active; Description only). Child allowances are withheld for unvaccinated children, mainly affecting Arab Bedouin children in the Naqab; Adalah petitioned in HCJ 7245/10 on 7 October 2010.

  • Criminal Procedure Law — Interrogating Suspects — Amendment No. 4, 2008 (lines 2180-2214; Criminal Law and Procedures; Active; Description only). Exempts police and the Israel Security Agency from audio/video recording of security-offence interrogations; extended in 2012 by Amendment No. 6.

  • Criminal Procedure Law (Detainee Suspected of Security Offence) (Temporary Order), 2006 (lines 2215-2241; Criminal Law and Procedures; Active; Description only). The original order: 96 hours before a judge, 35 days without indictment, 21 days without a lawyer, against 48 hours, 30 days and 48 hours in ordinary cases; passed for 18 months and extended in January 2008 for three years.

  • “Ban on Family Unification” — Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order), 2003 (lines 2242-2306; Citizenship; Active; Description only). Bans family unification for an Israeli citizen and an OPT resident spouse, excluding a Jewish settler in the OPT, with 2005 age and other exceptions, a 2007 expansion to Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, and repeated extensions; H.C. 7052/03 and H.C. 830/07 are listed.

  • Law of Political Parties — Amendment No. 12, 2002 (lines 2307-2325; Political Participation; Active; Description only). Article 5 bars registration of a party whose goals or actions support armed struggle of an enemy state or a terror organization against Israel, alongside the existing Jewish and democratic state ground.

  • Use of Hebrew Date Law, 1998 (lines 2326-2344; Culture and Language; Active; Description only). Mandates the Hebrew calendar in state authorities’ correspondence and publications; no such law exists for the Islamic calendar.

  • Knesset Law, 1994 (lines 2345-2363; Political Participation; Active; Description only). At the Knesset’s opening session, excerpts from the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel emphasizing the exclusive connection of the state to the Jewish people are read out.

  • Basic Law: The Government, 1992 (lines 2364-2394; theme printed as Criminal Law and Procedures; Active; Description only). Emergency powers traced from Section 9 of the Law and Administration Ordinance – 1948; a state of emergency declared in 1948 and maintained continuously, with the Emergency Powers (Detentions) Law – 1979, the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance – 1948 and the Times of Emergency Orders (Foreign Travel) – 1948 as examples.

  • Second Authority for Television and Radio Law, 1990 (lines 2395-2419; Culture and Language; Active; Description only). The Authority promotes Hebrew creativity and Jewish heritage and the values of Judaism and Zionism, and broadcasts in Arabic for the needs of the Arabic-speaking population and for peace with neighboring states in accordance with the state’s basic goals.

  • The Golan Heights Law, 1981 (lines 2420-2438; 1967 Occupied Territories; Active; Description only, one sentence). An annexation law providing a legal defense for applying Israeli law in the Golan Heights, occupied in 1967.

  • Interpretation Law, 1981 (lines 2439-2459; Sources of Law; Active; Description only). Article 24 makes Hebrew versions of laws the guiding versions, disregarding Article 82 of the Palestine Order-in-Council (1922) on Hebrew and Arabic as official languages.

  • Public Lands Law (Eviction of Squatters), 1981 (lines 2460-2478; Land and Planning Rights; Active; Description only). A 2005 amendment expanded ILA agencies’ administrative eviction powers, aimed primarily at the Arab Bedouin population of the Naqab.

  • Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel, 1980 (lines 2479-2503; 1967 Occupied Territories; Active; Description only). Approximately 70,500 dunams annexed after 1967 through Article 11b; Article 1 states Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel; a 2000 amendment limits changes to the city’s area and jurisdiction.

  • Foundations of Law Act, 1980 (lines 2504-2524; Sources of Law; Active; Description only). Article 1 directs courts, where existing sources give no answer, to the principles of freedom, justice, equity, and peace of Israel’s heritage, granting Jewish law (Halakha) official status in the entry’s account.

  • Religious Jewish Services Law, 1971 (lines 2525-2557; Religion; Active; Description only). Religious councils in Jewish localities, funded by state and local bodies, with no parallel law for non-Jewish councils; HCJ 1113/99 is listed.

  • Law of Yad Yitzhak Ben-Zvi (1969) and Law of Mikve Israel Agricultural School (1976) (lines 2558-2576; Culture and Language; Active; Year field 1969; Description only). Statutory recognition of cultural and educational institutions whose aims include fulfilling Zionist goals to promote Jewish culture and education at the expense of minority goals.

  • Protection of Holy Sites Law, 1967 (lines 2577-2613; Religion; Active; Description only). The Ministry of Religious Affairs has declared 135 Jewish sites as holy sites and no Muslim, Christian or Druze holy places; H.C. 10532/04 was dismissed, with a state commitment to fund maintenance of Muslim holy sites.

  • National Planning and Building Law — Limitation of Water, Electricity and Telephone, 1965 (lines 2614-2634; Land and Planning Rights; Active; Description only). Article 157A bars utility connections to buildings without a permit, used in practice almost exclusively against unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Naqab.

  • National Planning and Building Law, 1965 (lines 2635-2653; Land and Planning Rights; Active; Description only). The national and district planning bodies need not include Arab-Palestinian representatives, while women and Yishuv institutions are included on the Jewish Agency’s recommendation.

  • Broadcasting Authority Law, 1965 (lines 2654-2682; Culture and Language; Active; Description only). The Authority’s mandate includes reinforcing the Zionist identity of the state as a Jewish and democratic state, with Arabic broadcasts as in the Second Authority entry.

  • Basic Law: Israel Lands, 1960 (lines 2683-2704; Land and Planning Rights; Active; Description only). Israel lands under the state, the JNF and the Development Authority cannot be transferred except between those entities; the JNF seeks to lease its land to Jews only.

  • Israel Land Administration Law, 1960 (lines 2705-2725; Land and Planning Rights; Active; Description only). Establishes the ILA; half the Israel Land Administration Council’s seats go to the government and half to the JNF.

  • Basic Law: The Knesset, 1958 (lines 2726-2765; Political Participation; Active; Description only). Section 7A as added in 1985 and amended in 2002 bars candidate lists on the stated grounds, and Amendment No. 39 (2008) bars candidates who visited enemy states without the Interior Minister’s permission.

  • Jewish National Fund Law, 1953 (lines 2766-2800; Land and Planning Rights; Active; Description only). Governmental authorities and tax relief for the JNF, established in 1901 to purchase land for the exclusive benefit of the Jewish people; H.C. 9205/04 is listed.

  • State Education Law, 1953 (lines 2801-2823; Education; Active; Description only). Separate state secular and state religious systems for the Jewish community and educational objectives advancing Jewish culture and Zionist ideology; Article 2(11) (2000) acknowledgement of Arab language, culture and equal rights is called weak.

  • Land Acquisition Law (Actions and Compensation), 1953 (lines 2824-2847; Land and Planning Rights; Active; Description only). Approximately 93% of land in Israel (excluding the OPT) is owned by the state and the JNF and 3-3.5% by the Arab population, against 48% in 1948; 1.2-1.3 million dunams were expropriated from 349 towns and villages, plus the built-up areas of about 68 villages.

  • World Zionist Organization–Jewish Agency (Status) Law, 1952 (lines 2848-2868; Culture and Language; Active; Description only). The WZO, the Jewish Agency and other Zionist bodies function as quasi-governmental entities to advance Zionist goals.

  • Entry into Israel Law, 1952 (lines 2869-2889; Citizenship; Active; Description only). Governs non-citizens’ entry; an Oleh is given preferential treatment and status to enter as though a citizen.

  • Citizenship Law, 1952 (lines 2890-2915; Citizenship; Active; Description only). Article 2(a) on automatic citizenship under the Law of Return, Article 3 on pre-1948 Palestinian residents, and Amendment No. 9 (2008) revocation for breach of trust or disloyalty without a criminal conviction.

  • Law of Return, 1950 (lines 2916-2936; Citizenship; Active; Description only). Every Jewish person, and the children, grandchildren and specified spouses the entry lists, may immigrate and automatically become a citizen; no comparable law exists for Palestinians.

  • Absentees’ Property Law, 1950 (lines 2937-2973; Land and Planning Rights; Active; Description only). Persons who expelled, fled or left after 29 November 1947 and their property are defined as absentee, vested in the Custodian for Absentees’ Property; the main legal instrument, in the entry’s account, for taking land of internal and external refugees and Muslim Waqf properties.

  • State Stamp Law, 1949 (lines 2974-2992; National Identity Symbols; Active; Description only). The state stamp, with the Star of David and the candelabrum, is placed on all official documents.

  • Flag and Emblem Law, 1949 (lines 2993-3013; National Identity Symbols; Active; Description only). Adopts the Zionist Movement’s flag as Israel’s flag and the candelabrum as its emblem; a 1997 amendment requires all public buildings to raise the flag.

  • Law and Government Ordinance, Article 18A, 1948 (lines 3014-3032; Religion; Active; Description only). Official holidays are all Jewish holy days, plus Independence Day as the only other official holiday.

  • Defense Regulations (Times of Emergency), Regulation 125 (Closed Zones), 1945 (lines 3033-3053; Land and Planning Rights; Active; Description only). A military commander may declare any region closed; in practice the regulations uprooted Palestinian villages and prevent residents of uprooted villages from 1948 returning to their land.

  • Trade with the Enemy Ordinance, 1939 (lines 3054-3094; Culture and Language; Active; Description only). A British mandatory-era total ban on trade with enemy nationals; all enemy states thus far are Arab and/or Muslim states; examples are the Arabic-book import ban and Ala Hlehel’s Beirut 39 travel, in both of which Adalah petitioned and won. The file ends with this entry’s petition listings.

Key passages

  • “We have no pedagogical intention… and no security purpose. We have a values-based [ideological] purpose.” (MK Avichay Buaron on the 2026 teaching-staff law, line 52)
  • “Exercising the right to national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.” (Nation-State Law, Article 1, as quoted in the entry, line 651)
  • “The state views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value, and will act to encourage it and to promote and to consolidate its establishment.” (Nation-State Law, Article 7, as quoted in the entry, line 681)
  • “My right, the right of my wife and my children to move around Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] is more important than freedom of movement for the Arabs. The right to life comes before freedom of movement.” (Itamar Ben-Gvir, August 2023, as quoted in the Ben-Gvir Law entry, line 453)
  • “It’s a law of two words: Arabs out.” (MK Mickey Rosenthal on the Expulsion of MKs Law, line 1025)
  • “Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel.” (Basic Law: Jerusalem, Article 1, as quoted in the entry, lines 2479-2503)
  • “Every emigrant under the Law of Return will become a citizen of Israel as a direct result of the return.” (Citizenship Law, Article 2(a), as quoted in the entry, lines 2890-2915)

Evidence the work relies on

The database’s own entries, as presented in this part: the statutory texts it quotes (State Education Law s.18B and the Supervision of Schools Law amendment; Citizenship Law (b1) and Entry Into Israel Law (a1); Patient’s Rights Law s.9a; Criminal Procedure Ordinance Amendment No. 15 and Penal Law s.144 as amended; Police Ordinance ss.8B-8D; Counter-Terrorism Law ss.70A-70B, the Article 2A definitions and offences list; Nation-State Law Articles 1 and 3-7; Public Security Law ss.3B and 6B; Basic Law: Knesset Articles 42a and 7a; the Anti-Boycott Law ss.1-2); Knesset committee protocols and debates it cites (the 28 February and 13 March 2023 joint-committee discussions on warrantless searches, with page references; the Knesset session protocol on Amendment No. 3, pp.183 and 189; committee statements by Buaron, Halevi, Elkin and others); official data it cites (Ministry of Education figures on East Jerusalem teachers, late 2024; State Prosecutor’s Office data on May 2021 “act of terror” charges; Interior Ministry data in Zayoud on 31 considered revocations; Public Security Minister information to the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on the Eid al-Fitr declaration; National Insurance Institute 2020 poverty figures); court decisions it cites (Zayoud, July 2021; the 2020 hametz judgment; Jabareen, HCJ 5887/17; the Nation-State petitions decision, 8 July 2021; HCJ 10214/16, 27 May 2018; HCJ 2072/12, 15 April 2015; the electoral-threshold decision, 14 January 2015); and international and civil-society material it quotes (UN Human Rights Committee concluding observations of 2022 and 2014, CERD 2020 and 2012, CESCR 2019, CEDAW 2017, four Special Rapporteurs 2018, Special Rapporteur Frank La Rue, Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk, the UN Secretary General, the Committee Against Torture, the ICRC, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the American Bar Association, and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry’s 2023 report). Full citations for each item are in the reading notes. In the entries read in the final part the database also relies on the statutory texts it quotes for the Admissions Committees Law (ss.6B, 6C, 6F and 6G) and the Nakba Law (section 3(B)); on court decisions it cites (Qa’adan, HCJ 6698/95; Zubeidat, HCJ 8036/07; HCJ 2504/11, 17 September 2014; HCJ 3429/11, January 2012; H.C. 7052/03 and H.C. 830/07 on family unification; HCJ 3183/10 on Abu Basma; HCJ 7245/10 on child allowances; H.C. 10532/04 on holy sites; H.C. 9205/04 on the JNF); on figures it gives (437 admissions-committee localities and approximately 80% of the state’s territory; more than 750,000 Palestinians displaced in 1948; 60 Naqab individual settlements over 81,000 dunams and 90,000-100,000 inhabitants of unrecognized villages; 135 declared Jewish holy sites and none of another religion; approximately 70,500 dunams annexed around Jerusalem; 93% state and JNF land ownership against 3-3.5% Arab ownership and 48% in 1948, and 1.2-1.3 million dunams expropriated under the Land Acquisition Law); and on international material it quotes in those entries (CERD concluding observations of 2007 and 2020, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression of 11 June 2012, CEDAW 2017, Human Rights Watch of 30 March 2011, and Amnesty International’s apartheid report).

Analysis

The database is an advocacy catalogue, not a neutral statute list: Adalah selects the laws, characterises each as discriminatory in its own voice, and in the fuller entries supports the characterisation with quoted provisions, sponsors’ statements, official figures, court challenges and UN and rights-group criticism, all as presented in the entries. Its method is cumulative and historical — the reverse-chronological order runs from 2026 legislation back to Mandate-era instruments still in use, so the catalogue itself argues continuity across citizenship, land, planning, language, religion, education and criminal procedure. Its limits are those of its form: entry depth varies sharply, from the long, fully sourced Admissions Committees, Nakba, Nation-State and Counter-Terrorism entries to one-sentence Description-only entries (the Golan Heights Law) with no provisions, context or criticism reproduced; several entries rest on Adalah’s summary alone, with full texts linked but not quoted; and the copy contains the spelling, dating and numbering slips recorded under Open questions, which are kept as printed rather than resolved.

How it relates to other sources

The database overlaps extensively with sources already in the wiki and is kept alongside them, not merged into them: its Admissions Committees entry sits beside the primary text in Law to Amend the Cooperative Societies Ordinance (No. 8), 5771-2011 and the accounts in Rethinking Statehood in Palestine and Stateless Citizenship (2013) on Acceptance to Communities Law; its Nakba Law entry beside the primary text in Budget Foundations Law (Amendment No. 40), 5771-2011; its Anti-Boycott entry beside Law for Prevention of Damage to the State of Israel through Boycott, 2011 (2011); and its short entries on the Law of Return, Citizenship Law, Entry into Israel Law, Absentees’ Property Law, World Zionist Organization–Jewish Agency (Status) Law, Basic Law: Israel Lands and Israel Lands Administration Law beside the primary texts of each of those laws, whose fuller provisions and internal disagreements are recorded on their own pages. Where Adalah’s summaries differ from a primary text — for example on the Israel Land Administration Council’s composition and on family-unification exceptions — both accounts are kept on the entity page.

People, organizations, places and events

Adalah, Knesset, Israeli Supreme Court, Amendment to the Police Ordinance (No. 37) — 2022 Ben-Gvir Law, Hametz Law — Patient’s Rights Act (Amendment No. 13) 2023, Law to Prevent the Employment of Teaching Staff with Academic Degrees from Palestinian Authority Institutions (Legislative Amendments), 2026, Law for Revocation of Citizenship or Residency of a Terrorist who Receives Compensation for Carrying out a Terrorist Act, 2023, Nation-State Law, Counter-Terrorism Law, 5776-2016, Law for Prevention of Damage to the State of Israel through Boycott, 2011, Citizenship Law (1952), Entry into Israel Law, 5712-1952, Law of Return, Acceptance to Communities Law, East Jerusalem, Naqab, Galilee, West Bank, Gaza, Combating Illegal Weapons Law (Legislative Amendment and Temporary Order), 2023, Absorption of Discharged Soldiers Law, Counter-Terrorism Law (Amendment No. 3), 2018 — withholding bodies, Jabareen Case (HCJ 5887/17), Stop-and-Frisk Law — Amendment No. 5 to the Authorities for Maintaining Public Security Law, 2016, Expulsion of MKs Law — Amendment No. 44 to Basic Law: The Knesset, 2016, NGO Funding Transparency Law, 2016, Penal Code Amendment No. 120 — mandatory minimum sentences for stone-throwing, 2015, National Insurance Act Amendment No. 163 — revoking child allowances, 2015, Youth (Care and Supervision) Law Amendment No. 20 — fines on parents, 2015, Criminal Procedure (Detainee Suspected of Security Offence) (Temporary Order) Amendment No. 4, 2015, Increased Governance and Raising the Qualifying Election Threshold — amendment to Basic Law: The Government, 2014, Civil Wrongs Law Amendment No. 8 (Liability of the State), 2012, Criminal Procedure (Interrogating Suspects) Amendment No. 6, 2012, Income Tax Ordinance Amendment No. 191, 2012, Prisons Ordinance Amendment No. 43 — prisoner-attorney meetings, 2012, Prisons Ordinance Amendment No. 40 — meetings with lawyers, 2011, Israel Lands Law Amendment No. 3 — foreign property ownership, 2011, Qa’adan Case (HCJ 6698/95), Zubeidat Case (HCJ 8036/07), Citizenship Law — Amendment No. 10, 2011, Nakba Law, Foreign Government Funding Law, 2011, Law to Strip Payments from a Current or Former Member of Knesset due to a Crime, 2011, Criminal Procedure Law (Suspects of Security Offenses) (Temporary Order) — Amendment No. 2, 2010, Negev Development Authority Law — Amendment No. 4, 2010 — Negev individual settlements, Land (Acquisition for Public Purposes) Ordinance — Amendment No. 10, 2010, Pardon Law — Termination of Proceedings and Deletion of Records in the Disengagement Plan Law, 2010, Regional Councils Law (Date of General Elections) Special Amendment No. 6, 2009, Abu-Basma, Israel Land Administration Law — Amendment No. 7, 2009, National Priority Areas — Economic Efficiency Law, 2009, Child Vaccinations and Child Allowances — Economic Efficiency Law, 2009, Criminal Procedure Law — Interrogating Suspects — Amendment No. 4, 2008, Criminal Procedure Law (Detainee Suspected of Security Offence) (Temporary Order), 2006, Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (temporary provision), 5763-2003, Law of Political Parties — Amendment No. 12, 2002, Use of Hebrew Date Law, 1998, Knesset Law, 1994, Basic Law: The Government, 1992, Second Authority for Television and Radio Law, 1990, Golan Heights Law, 1981, Interpretation Law, 1981, Public Lands Law (Eviction of Squatters), 1981, Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel, Foundations of Law Act, 1980, Religious Jewish Services Law, 1971, Law of Yad Yitzhak Ben-Zvi (1969) and Law of Mikve Israel Agricultural School (1976), Protection of Holy Sites Law, 1967, National Planning and Building Law — Limitation of Water, Electricity and Telephone, 1965, National Planning and Building Law, 1965, Broadcasting Authority Law, 1965, Basic Law: Israel Lands, Israel Lands Administration Law, 5720-1960, Basic Law: The Knesset, 1958, Jewish National Fund Law, 1953, Jewish National Fund, State Education Law, 1953, Land Acquisition Law (Actions and Compensation), 1953, World Zionist Organisation - Jewish Agency (Status) Law, 5713-1952, Absentee Property Law, State Stamp Law, 1949, Flag and Emblem Law, 1949, Law and Government Ordinance, Article 18A, 1948, Defense Regulations (Times of Emergency), Regulation 125 — Closed Zones, 1945, Trade with the Enemy Ordinance, 1939

Concepts

Apartheid, BDS movement, Administrative Detention, Self-determination, Right of Return

Open questions

  • The database’s own publication date is not stated in the copy; only the fetch date, 2026-10-06, and each entry’s Year field are given.
  • Entry 7 (Amendment No. 3) gives the Jabareen ruling as 26 July 2017 in Context and as a decision delivered 25 July 2017 under Legal challenges, whose own sub-entry also says 25 July, while a press release in the same entry is dated 26 July 2017 (lines 530, 552, 554, 608). Both dates are recorded as printed.
  • Entry 6 (Ben-Gvir Law) says Ben-Gvir “took office in December 2022” (line 451) and that his rhetoric continued “after he assumed the office of National Security Minister in November 2022” (line 453). Both are recorded as printed.
  • Entry 8 (Nation-State Law) spells the 2011 sponsor “Avi Ditchter” twice in its first Context paragraph and “Dichter” twice in the next (lines 685, 687; byte-checked in the raw file: “Ditchter” 2, “Dichter” 2). Both spellings are recorded as printed.
  • Entry 9 (Stop-and-Frisk) dates an Adalah press release on the clearing of the Hassouna suspects to “30 November 2011” (line 838), although the killing it concerns was in May 2021 and the companion appeal release is dated 30 April 2022. Recorded as printed.
  • Entry 3 (Hametz Law) has a blank Theme field in the copy, and its Why section prints “the law discrimination against individuals” with no verb (byte-checked). Entry 5 prints its Theme as “EducationEducation Military Service”. Entry 2 prints “Amendment to the the Citizenship Law”. Entry 4 prints “Jewish-Palestininan cities” (byte-checked, one occurrence). Entry 8 prints “have spoke out” for the Jewish-American groups (byte-checked). All recorded as printed.
  • Entry 10 lists both identification with a terrorist organization (three years) and incitement to terrorism (five years) under §24 of the Counter-Terrorism Law; whether both offences sit in that section is not resolved within this entry.
  • Entry 24 (Foreign Property Ownership) ends at line 1547; line 1548 is blank and the Admissions Committees entry begins at line 1549, so the part 1 question whether the entry continues after 1547 is settled: it does not.
  • Entry 25 (Admissions Committees) quotes provision 6G(a), under which the Minister of Finance may authorize allocation through an admissions committee for continued community towns of over 700 households, while its Context summary says that starting in 2028 the Minister of Economy and Industry will have authority to approve admission committees in towns with more than 700 households (lines 1593 and 1609 in the copy’s numbering as read). Both are recorded as printed.
  • Entry 25 also dates a hearing in HCJ 2504/11 to 1 February 2011, before the March 2011 passage narrative in the same entry; recorded as printed.
  • Entry 35 (Israel Land Administration Law — Amendment No. 7, Year 2009) lists a press release “New Israel Land Reform Law Passed by Knesset - 3 August 2012”. The 2012 date is recorded as printed.
  • Entry 29 (Strip Payments) has a Press Releases section containing only the word “test” as printed.
  • Entry 44 (Basic Law: The Government) prints “The dtate has enacted” and “came into affect” (byte-checked in the raw file). Entry 32 prints “Finance Minster” in its first sentence (byte-checked). Entry 59 prints “Amendement” three times in its closing line, entry 65 prints “admendment”, and entry 62 prints “93%of” with no space and once prints the name as “The Land and Acquisition Law” (all byte-checked). Entry 72 prints a garbled sentence on enemy states, with the words all of inserted after the quoted phrase as printed (byte-checked). All are recorded as printed.
  • Entry 59 (Basic Law: The Knesset) lists the 1985 Section 7(A)(3) as incitement to racism and a 2002-added Section 7(A)(3) as support for armed struggle, with the same subsection number for both; recorded as printed.
  • Entry 52 combines two laws, of 1969 and 1976, under a single Year field of 1969; entry 51 lists an item labelled a Judgement under both Petitions Against Law and Court Judgments for HCJ 1113/99. Recorded as printed.
  • Entry 47 (Interpretation Law) and other late entries state Arabic’s status only as Adalah presents it in each entry; entry 61 calls Arabic “an official state language” while entry 47 rests on Article 82 of the Palestine Order-in-Council (1922). The entries’ own terms are kept.

Coverage

lines 1-3094 of 3094, read in full

Graph View

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