Summary
Israel’s Basic Law: Israel – The Nation State of the Jewish People, in an unofficial English translation dated 25 July 2018: the Land of Israel is the historic national home of the Jewish people and the State of Israel is the national state of the Jewish people, in which it exercises its natural, cultural, and historic right to self-determination, the exercise of national self-determination in the State being unique to the Jewish people; a greater, united Jerusalem is the capital; Hebrew is the state’s language with Arabic in a special status whose practical status before enactment is not to be harmed; the state will be open to Jewish immigration and the ingathering of the exiles, will foster the well-being of the Jewish people in trouble or captivity and preserve its affinity and heritage in the Diaspora, and views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value it will encourage, promote and consolidate; and the Law, sections 1-11, is entrenched by section 11 so it may be amended only by another Basic Law passed by a majority of Knesset members (Basic Law: Israel – The Nation-State of the Jewish People (English translation), PDF p.1-2).
What the file is
The unofficial English translation, headed “Unofficial translation – 25 July 2018”, in one 2-page file: sections 1-7 on PDF p.1 and sections 8-11 on PDF p.2. No signatories, passage footnote, publication data or Hebrew text appears in this file, so the adoption date of 19 July 2018 carried in the frontmatter is taken from the Hebrew original in this batch, Hok-Yesod: Yisrael – Medinat ha-Le’om shel ha-Am ha-Yehudi (Hebrew original), whose passage footnote gives it; this file alone dates itself only by its translation date. The text copy was checked against the original at PDF p.1-2 and reads the same. No table or figure appears. Where this translation and the Hebrew original differ in wording, both are recorded in Section by section and Open questions and on the Hebrew source page; the Hebrew is the enacted text.
Section by section
- Section 1, Basic principles (PDF p.1). A. The Land of Israel is the historic national home of the Jewish people, in which the State of Israel was established. B. The State of Israel is the national state of the Jewish people, in which it exercises its natural, cultural, and historic right to self-determination. C. Exercising the right to national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.
- Section 2, The symbols of the state (PDF p.1). A. The name of the state is “Israel.” B. The state flag is white with two blue stripes near the edges and a blue Star of David in the center. C. The state emblem is a seven-branched menorah with olive leaves on both sides and the word “Israel” beneath it. D. The state anthem is “Hatikva.” E. Details regarding state symbols shall be determined by law.
- Section 3, The capital of the state (PDF p.1). A greater, united Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
- Section 4, Language (PDF p.1). A. The state’s language is Hebrew. B. The Arabic language has a special status; regulation of the use of the Arabic language in or with government institutions will be according to the law. C. Nothing in this provision is intended to harm the practical status of the Arabic language prior to the enactment of this Basic Law.
- Section 5, Ingathering of the exiles (PDF p.1). The state will be open to Jewish immigration and the ingathering of the exiles.
- Section 6, Connection with the Jewish people (PDF p.1). A. The state shall foster the well-being of the Jewish people in trouble or in captivity due to the fact of their Jewishness or their citizenship. B. The state shall act in the Diaspora to preserve the affinity between the state and the Jewish people. C. The state shall act to preserve the cultural, historic, and religious heritage of the Jewish people in the Jewish Diaspora.
- Section 7, Jewish settlement (PDF p.1). 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.
- Section 8, Official calendar (PDF p.2). The Hebrew calendar is an official calendar of the state, and the foreign calendar shall be used concurrently as an official calendar; use of the Hebrew calendar and the foreign calendar shall be determined by law.
- Section 9, Independence Day and memorial days (PDF p.2). A. Independence Day is the national holiday of the state. B. Memorial Day for the Fallen in Israel’s Wars and Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day are official memorial days of the State.
- Section 10, Days of rest and Sabbaths (PDF p.2). The established days of rest in the state are the Sabbath and the festivals of Israel; non-Jews have the right to rest on their Sabbaths and their festivals; details of this issue shall be determined by law.
- Section 11, Immutability (PDF p.2). This Basic Law shall not be amended, unless by another Basic Law passed by a majority of Knesset members.
Key passages
- “The State of Israel is the national state of the Jewish people, in which it exercises its natural, cultural, and historic right to self-determination” (section 1B, PDF p.1)
- “Exercising the right to national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people” (section 1C, PDF p.1)
- “A greater, united Jerusalem is the capital of Israel” (section 3, PDF p.1)
- “The state views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value” (section 7, PDF p.1)
- “This Basic Law shall not be amended, unless by another Basic Law passed by a majority of Knesset members” (section 11, PDF p.2)
Evidence the work relies on
A Basic Law, not an evidentiary work. It cites no evidence, documents or statistics. No internal authority is named beyond the Knesset members whose majority section 11 requires for amendment, and the laws to which sections 2E, 4B, 8 and 10 leave details.
Analysis
Read on its own terms, the Law is a constitutive declaration in eleven short sections: sections 1, 3, 4, 5 and 7 carry its substantive allocations — national self-determination exercised uniquely by the Jewish people, a united Jerusalem as capital in the translation’s “greater” wording, Hebrew as the state’s language with Arabic in a protected special status short of the state’s language, openness to Jewish immigration alone in section 5, and Jewish settlement as a national value the state will promote and consolidate — while sections 2, 8, 9 and 10 fix symbols, calendars, holidays and days of rest, section 6 commits the state to the Jewish people in the Diaspora as well as in the state, and section 11 entrenches the whole Law, not only specified clauses, against amendment except by a Basic Law passed by a majority of Knesset members. The file gives no definition of the Land of Israel, the Jewish people, Jewish settlement or the Diaspora, no borders, no enforcement mechanism and no statement about the rights of non-Jewish citizens beyond section 4C’s protection of Arabic’s prior practical status and section 10’s rest right for non-Jews. As a translation it is not identical to the enacted Hebrew: the differences at sections 1B, 3, 6A and 9A are recorded under Open questions.
People, organizations, places and events
Nation-State Law, Basic Laws, Knesset, Israel, City of Jerusalem
Concepts
Self-determination, Diaspora, Jewish National Home
How it relates to other sources
This is the primary text, in English translation, of the Law that the secondary literature in the wiki has so far carried in summary: For Palestine — Essays from the Tom Hurndall Memorial Lecture Group sets out its provisions, Rethinking Statehood in Palestine quotes its self-determination and settlement clauses, The Case for Palestinian Nationality quotes its “unique to the Jewish people” wording, and Palestine: A Socialist Introduction lists its three tenets — all four accounts are held on Nation-State Law beside this text, which confirms their quotations of sections 1 and 7 in substance. Two points in this translation differ from the accounts and from the Hebrew original: section 1B here omits “religious” from the list of rights, where the Hebrew includes it, and section 3 here reads “A greater, united Jerusalem”, where the Hebrew reads complete and united — the same “complete and united” wording as section 1 of Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel (1980). Its section 11 entrenchment of the whole Law contrasts with the 1980 Jerusalem Law, which entrenches only its sections 5 and 6. The Hebrew original is ingested in this batch as Hok-Yesod: Yisrael – Medinat ha-Le’om shel ha-Am ha-Yehudi (Hebrew original).
Open questions
- Section 1B in this translation lists a “natural, cultural, and historic right” to self-determination; the Hebrew original lists a natural, cultural, religious and historic right. Both are recorded; the translation does not note the omission.
- Section 3 in this translation reads “A greater, united Jerusalem”; the Hebrew original reads Jerusalem, complete and united. Both are recorded.
- Section 6A in this translation covers “the Jewish people in trouble or in captivity due to the fact of their Jewishness or their citizenship”; the Hebrew original covers the members of the Jewish people and its citizens in trouble or captivity due to their Jewishness or their citizenship. Both are recorded.
- Section 9A in this translation calls Independence Day “the national holiday of the state”; the Hebrew original calls it the official national holiday of the state. Both are recorded.
- This file gives no passage date, signatories or publication data, so its adoption date and signatories can be stated only from the Hebrew original in this batch.
Coverage
PDF p.1-2 of 2, read in full.