Jack Ross takes on Professor Eliav Shuchtman’s belief that Israel should not be a state of all its citizens:
The references to Israel not being “a state of all its citizens” as a principle of international law are clearly alluding to the Balfour Declaration. Though it is probably dubious to take for granted the standing of a 90-year old British imperial declaration, the actual text is worth considering in this connection:
“His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”
The second half is what interests us here. The two qualifying principles have obviously been violated in perpetuity since 1948 and probably longer. If the declaration is still binding in international law, and it is far from clear that it is, therefore, whatever the precise meaning of “a national home for the Jewish people” notwithstanding, for Israel/Palestine to not be “a state of all its citizens” is a direct violation of the Balfour Declaration.
