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Israeli academic: Loyalty oath resembles racist laws of 1935

Over 100 people demonstrated against loyalty oath in Tel Aviv; warn 'Israel is becoming a fascist state.'

Israeli artists, writers and intellectuals held on Sunday a demonstration against the cabinet's approval of a controversial amendment to the citizenship bill, requiring non-Jews seeking citizenship to pledge allegiance to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israeli-academic-loyalty-oath-resembles-racist-laws-of-1935-1.318275

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Reporting from the West Bank city of Ramallah on the Palestinian reaction to the vote, Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh said: "Defining a state by the specific religious or ethnic background of the majority of its citizens is unprecedented".
Were the bill to be passed by the Knesset, the people immediately affected would be Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza who either want to marry a Palestinian-Israeli citizen or have already married and are waiting on their papers to be processed,
she said.
Earlier, Ahmad Tibi, an Arab member of the Knesset, told Al Jazeera that the bill was aimed at Palestinians - and not at Jewish newcomers to Israel since they already enter on Israel's Jewish Law of Return.
"Palestinians will have to say that this country is for Jews, and Palestinians are only guests. If you are saying you are democratic, you should treat citizens with equality," Tibi said.http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/10/2010101013028364300.html

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ORIGINAL: DomKen

Actually it applies to all new citizens. The amendment to the citizenship law simply adds "Jewish and Democratic state." to the end of the Israeli pledge of allegiance.

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A divided Cabinet yesterday approved a highly controversial measure that, for the first time in Israel's 62-year history, requires new non-Jewish citizens to pledge loyalty to it as a "Jewish and democratic state". The Independent

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Cabinet ministers on Sunday approved by a majority vote a controversial amendment which would require every non-Jew wishing to become a citizen of Israel to pledge loyalty. Haaretz

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Proposals to introduce a law compelling non-Jews seeking Israeli citizenship to swear allegiance to Israel as a ''Jewish and democratic state'' have generated a lively debate in Israeli papers. BBC

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The proposed law would require those seeking to become Israeli citizens under the Citizenship Law to sign an oath pledging loyalty to “the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.” The law will not impact foreign citizens who apply for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return, which grants citizenship to Jews and their descendents.israelnationalnews

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ORIGINAL: Owner59

If they are going to compel folks to make the pledge under pain of imprisonment or fine this would be another story.

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ORIGINAL: AnimusRex

Defining a state by either ethnicity or religion is a tricky and dangerous business

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ORIGINAL: DarkSteven

The folks opposing this are nuts. They're trying to make the case that the new clause is the first step toward oppression of non-Jews similar to the Holocaust.

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ORIGINAL: Owner59

The OP title is FOS.

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...the Israeli cabinet approved a measure requiring candidates for Israeli citizenship to pledge loyalty to "the state of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state". The naturalisation oath would not apply to Jews, who are granted automatic citizenship under the law of return, so it is, by definition, discriminatory. The existing text binds individuals to declare their loyalty to the state of Israel. The new version requires future citizens to declare their loyalty not just to a state but an ideology, one specifically designed to exclude one fifth of its citizens who see themselves as Palestinian.
Palestinian Israeli leaders have described this proposal as racist. Palestinian Israeli citizens do not have to take this oath, but their partners seeking naturalisation do. Neither could agree with Israel's characterisation of itself as a Jewish state. It could be a state of Jews and all its citizens, but never a Jewish state. Nor is this the only bill around. There are 20 others in the slipstream that have a similar effect: there is a loyalty law for Knesset members and for film crews; there are bills that make it a criminal offence to deny the existence of Israel; that penalise the mourning of Nakba Day; that force any group financed by a foreign nation to report each contribution; and a bill to deny ethnic minorities' access to Jewish settlements. The authors of these proposals not only intend to create a state ideology but to police it.http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/oct/11/israel-loyalty-oath-discriminatory

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ORIGINAL: DomKen

Such careful sourcing to make it appear racist. Here are some more sources that say it applies to all new citizens.

http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&id=208343
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=190635

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I do wonder how many non jews become Israeli citizens every year.

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ORIGINAL: hertz

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ORIGINAL: DomKen

Such careful sourcing to make it appear racist. Here are some more sources that say it applies to all new citizens.

http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&id=208343
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=190635

You are wrong. Jews becoming Israeli citizens under the similarly racist 'right to return' laws are excluded. But you knew that, didn't you?

Straight question: Are Jews requesting Israeli citizenship under the racist right to return laws required to make this oath?

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I do wonder how many non jews become Israeli citizens every year.

Racism is racism, regardless of numbers.

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A proposed loyalty oath to Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state" should apply to all new citizens, not just to non-Jews, the Israeli prime minister has said after protests that the original plan for an oath was racist.

Binyamin Netanyahu ordered a redrafting of an amendment to the citizenship act. The earlier proposal applied only to non-Jews applying for citizenship – in effect a tiny number of Palestinians marrying Israeli-Arabs, and foreign workers.

The plan was originally put forward by the hard-right Yisrael Beitenu party, led by the foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman. Liberal Israelis, Israeli-Arabs and Palestinians denounced it as racist, and the proposal split the cabinet, with all Labour party members opposing it.

The redrafting will have little impact: Jews are automatically entitled to Israeli citizenship under the country's law of return, and few would demur at pledging loyalty to Israel as a Jewish state. The move does not address the objections of Palestinians.

...Jamal Zahalka, chairman of Balad, a party representing Israeli-Arabs, said the new proposal "remains racist because it demands Palestinians debase themselves by pledging allegiance to the Jewish state ... If another country ever forced Jews to pledge allegiance to Christian or Muslim ideology, they would be accused of being antisemitic.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/19/israeli-citizens-loyalty-oath-netanyahu

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ORIGINAL: hertz

Of course they can. If they want to be racists, that's entirely up to them. And those of us who have no time for Apartheid don't have to buy their racist produce - that's how it works, isn't it? 

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Israel
Avigdor Lieberman proposed that Israel's citizens should sign a loyalty oath or lose their right to vote. In his The Jewish Week article, Lieberman tried to explain his party's "no loyalty – no citizenship" campaign by writing: "During Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, I was appalled by the calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and for renewed suicide bombings that some Israeli Arab leaders called for at pro-Hamas rallies. Although 'responsible citizenship' had always been part of our platform, I realized that this was a burning issue that had to take top priority."[15] He explained his "responsible citizenship" platform and compared his position to the express policy of nations around the world, saying: "In the U.S., those requesting a Green Card must take an oath that they will fulfill the rights and duties of citizenship."[16]

On 10 October 2010 the Israeli cabinet approved a loyalty oath bill requiring all future non-Jews applying for an Israeli citizenship to swear loyalty to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.[17] However, on October 18, current prime minister Netanyahu ordered Justice minister Ya'akov Ne'eman to extend Cabinet-level debate on the bill in order to add amendments which make the loyalty oath universal to both Jewish and non-Jewish citizens of the state, including Jewish immigrants who seek citizenship.[18]

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ORIGINAL: hertz

Of course they can. If they want to be racists, that's entirely up to them. And those of us who have no time for Apartheid don't have to buy their racist produce - that's how it works, isn't it? 

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that it is indeed a deeply racist state.