Yesterday the Israeli Supreme Court upheld the Citizenship Law which prevents Palestinians from living in Israel with their Israeli spouses. The law began as a temporary order in 2002 and says Palestinians who live in the occupied territories, or citizens of Arab countries that are considered “enemy states”, are not eligible for Israeli residency or citizenship if they marry Israeli citizens. Noam Sheizaf at +972 quotes incoming head of the High Court Asher Grunis from the court’s decision, “human rights shouldn’t be a recipe for national suicide.” (You can read more on Grunis here.)
Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel led the case against the law and issued a statement following the decision:
The Supreme Court approved a law the likes of which do not exist in any democratic state in the world, depriving citizens from maintaining a family life in Israel only on the basis of the ethnicity or national belonging of their spouse. The ruling proves how much the situation regarding the civil rights of the Arab minority in Israel is declining into a highly dangerous and unprecedented situation.
Jack Khoury has a piece in today’s Haaretz on what the decision will mean for Palestinian couples who had been hoping to be able to live together inside Israel.
Taysar Hatib and his wife Lana of Acre married six years ago. Up to this day Lana, originally from Nablus, has been denied an Israeli citizenship. She receives a temporary permit to live with her husband in Acre annually, but doesn’t hold the legal rights extended to permanent Israeli residents.
Taysar, who is writing his anthropology doctorate at Haifa University and is employed as a lecturer at the Western Galilee College, wasn’t surprised by the court ruling. “The decision is proof that one shouldn’t have any faith in the Israeli judicial system. It is clear that the Supreme Court is influenced by the wave of fascism and racism sweeping Israel and the judges weren’t expected to act in any other way.”
Hatib explained that though his wife holds a permit of temporary residence, the court ruling puts an end to any hope for advancement or a normal life. “She can’t develop a career – She can’t even drive a car, though she holds a Palestinian driver’s license.”
The only democracy in the Middle East.
Israel has been and will remain insular in the region. It is no wonder that it has rejected the Arab peace initiative, twice.
Today’s decision is not limited to marriage, instead it is a reflection of Israel’s self-image, how it sees itself in the region. And the only reason it continues to exist is due to Uncle Sam’s greenback, pushed by the Israel Lobby and supported by the Jewish community in the US.
There is very little normal about Israel. It can only function normally in the minds of many a Zionist who have been marinating in the Hasbara and mythology from early childhood.
“human rights shouldn’t be a recipe for national suicide.”
My guess is that you could find this exact quote somewhere in the annals of every dictatorship from the smallest bully-chiefdom to the Nazi state, to excuse their evil. Good to see the US’s “democratic [sic]” ally is showing its true colors.
well i guess they are consistent.
jewish zionist nation had to be founded by a massive disregard for human rights (ethnic cleansing)
jewish zionist nation had to continually deny human rights to thousands of refugees to maintain its “jewishness”
so why would we think things would change? it is ridiculous enough to call a shift in demographics “national suicide”… but how are the few marriages we are talking about even that much of a “demographic threat”? this does not bode well for any real recognition of the right of return. meaning… no peace. meaning, the prevailing strain of zionism should not be a recipe for national suicide (but it is).
the obsession with demographics, the expansion, and the disregard for human rights…. THAT is a recipe for national suicide. someone should tell the court that they are the ones *facilitating* actual national suicide.
Ah, the sweet, sweet smell of Zio-supremacism. Come on, RW, stop holding your nose and take a deep breath! Doesn’t it just reek of purity? How wonderful!