Wonder Woman vs. Bibi Netanyahu

Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman

On July 19, 2018, Israel’s Knesset passed the Basic Law: Israel – The Nation State of the Jewish People. The law pertains to the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people and their right to self-determination through their natural, cultural, religious and historical rights. It declared the national language, flag, emblem and anthem of the Jewish People. The law states which days are for rest and which are recognized holidays as well as the Jewish Memorial Day and Independence Day. The law also states that the State of Israel will ensure the safety of the Jewish people and its citizens according to their Jewishness or their citizenship. Lastly, the law touches on Jewish immigration, the right for Jews to develop settlements and the act of holding on to ties of the Jewish people and the members of the State of Israel in the Diaspora. 

Many points written into the Nation-State Law are already practiced by the citizens of Israel. Around 80% of Israeli citizens, including Arabs, speak Hebrew. The flag of Israel was already the national flag but is now recognized as the official flag of Israel. The “Hatikvah” and the symbol of Israel have also both been used by Israeli citizens, but again, is now officially the anthem and symbol. Yet these are points that are over looked or merely not mentioned. Instead the focus seems to be on how the law “downgrades” many of the non-Jewish citizens of Israel. 

In Itay Stern’s article, Rotem attacked Culture Minister Miri Regev on an Instagram post following Regev’s TV interview warning citizens of Israel how if the Blue and White party is elected, they will need to work with Arab parties in order to set up the government. Rotem asked why this would be a problem, aren’t Arabs citizens too? Rotem was bombarded with negative, violent and threatening responses from the public following her post. Gal Gadot, revealing her political opinion after a long stance of vagueness, came to her defense by supporting Rotem via statements how the focus should not be about political stance, religion or ethnicity but it should be of peace and equality. She was joined by Israeli actress Maya Dagan in praising Rotem for speaking her mind and caring enough to stand up for all citizens of their country. Itay points to yet another public figure, Shlomit Malka, Israeli model, who also posted on her Facebook page her support for Rotem stating that Jewish People, of all people, should know best the consequences of racism and baseless hatred; that Jewish People should execute loving their neighbor as they love themselves better than any other nation. Itay fails to include quotes or viewpoints from anyone other than major public figures. 

He next points to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who retorted Rotem’s Instagram post with his own. He corrected her by stating that Israel is not a state for all citizens, but as the Nation-State Law indicates it is a state for the Jewish People alone. Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s rival, Naftali Bennett, saw an opportunity to point out to young voters in Tel-Aviv that in a time of attack in the south their Prime Minister was too busy bantering with TV hosts. He assured the young voters that when he is Prime Minister, he will focus on fighting terrorists, not TV hosts. Arab Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi also responded to the controversy by stating Arabs are also people and citizens of the state who want to be treated equally. Rotem lastly gained support from Joint List chairman Ayman Odeh by stating that all Arab citizens deserve to be treated as full citizens and that demands courage. In his article, Itay only points to public figures with large number of followers and very little political experience suggesting he himself is in agreement with those said figures.

Ofer Aderet, a colleague of Itay’s at Haaretz, gives a little more insight as to possibly why there is certain confusion around the Nation-State Law. Aderet tells readers that the debate on the state of Israel being a state for all citizens goes back to 1996, from even before Netanyahu was Prime Minister of Israel. The Supreme Court was ruling on whether or not Israel was a state for all its citizens. Ahmad Tibi’s party, the Arab Movement for Change, stood to deny Israel’s existence as a Jewish state; a point Itay never made when quoting Ahmad for his article. Meron Izakson, a writer and businessman, petitioned to remove Ahmad from running during the 1996 election but was ultimately denied because he was said to not have enough evidence. Justice hearings were held to decide whether it was contradictory to say a Jewish state could also be a state for all citizens. Justice Mishael Chesin argued that a Jewish state could in fact be a state for Jewish people as well as all its citizens equally as Israel is a democratic state and will ensure this point. The interpretation of the law falls in eye of the reader, as some chose to interpret the law as downgrading Arab citizens and others chose to view the law as Israel's right to conduct itself as any other country does.