Jewish state

Political term used to describe the nation-state of Israel

For other uses, see Jewish state (disambiguation).

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Jewish state" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

This article is part of a series on

Conservatism in Israel

Ideologies

* Conservative Judaism
* Jewish conservatism
* Jewish fundamentalism
* Kahanism
* Religious conservatism
* Zionism
* Neo
* Religious
* Revisionist

Principles

* Agrarianism
* Ancestral worship
* Anti-Arabism
* Anti-Palestinianism
* Anti-Iranian sentiment
* Anti-Islamism
* Authority
* Clericalism
* Familialism
* Imperialism
* Greater Israel
* Jewish state
* Halachic state
* Jewish supremacism
* Chosen people
* Jewish values
* Militarism
* Begin Doctrine
* Gadna
* Nationalism
* Ethnic
* Ultra
* Orthodoxy
* Patriotism
* Property rights
* Sovereignty
* Theocracy
* Tradition

Scholars

* Ginsburgh
* Hazony
* Jabotinsky
* Kahane
* Klein
* Kook
* Lieberman
* Samson
* Yosef

Politicians

* Begin
* Bennett
* Eitam
* Kahane
* Netanyahu
* Peretz
* Shaked
* Shamir
* Smotrich
* Yosef

Parties

Active

* Agudat Yisrael
* Degel HaTorah
* Likud
* New Hope
* New Right
* Otzma Yehudit
* Shas
* Yisrael Beiteinu

Defunct

* Herut
* The Jewish Home
* Kach
* National Religious Party
* Religious Zionist Party

Alliances

* National Union
* National Unity
* Union of Right-Wing Parties
* United Torah Judaism
* Yamina

Organisations

* Gush Emunim
* Im Tirtzu
* Jewish Internet Defense Force
* Machon Meir
* Manhigut Yehudit
* Mercaz Olami
* My Israel

Media

* Arutz Sheva
* B'Sheva
* Channel 14
* HaTzofe
* i24NEWS
* Israel Hayom
* Makor Rishon
* Mida
* The Jerusalem Post

Related topics

* Haredi Judaism
* Israeli–Palestinian conflict
* Jewish culture
* Jewish political movements
* National camp
* One-state solution
* Politics of Israel
* Liberalism in Israel
* Torat Eretz Yisrael

* Conservatism portal
* Israel portal

* v
* t
* e

In world politics, Jewish state is a characterization of Israel as the nation-state and sovereign homeland of the Jewish people.[1]

## Overview[edit]

Modern Israel came into existence on 14 May 1948 as a polity to serve as the homeland for the Jewish people. It was also defined in its declaration of independence as a "Jewish state", a term that also appeared in the United Nations Partition Plan for British Palestine in 1947. The related term of "Jewish and democratic state" dates from a 1992 legislation by Israel's Knesset.

Since its establishment, Israel has passed many laws which reflect on the Jewish identity and values of the majority (about 75% in 2016) of its citizens. The secular-versus-religious debate in Israel in particular has focused debate on the Jewish nature of the state; another aspect of the debate is the status of minorities in Israel, most notably that of the Arab-Israeli population.

In pre-modern times, the religious laws of Judaism defined a number of prerogatives for a Halakhic state.[2] When Theodor Herzl wrote Der Judenstaat ("The Jewish State") in 1896 which birthed the Jewish movement of Zionism, he envisioned a state based on European models, which included religious institutions under the aegis of the state. In order to avoid alienating the Ottoman Sultan, there was no explicit reference to a Jewish state by the Zionist Organization that he founded. The phrase "national home" was used intentionally instead of "state".[3]

The 1942 Biltmore Program of the Zionist Organization explicitly proposed "that Palestine be established as a Jewish Commonwealth". In 1946, the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, also known as the Grady–Morrison Committee, noted that the demand for a Jewish state went beyond the obligations of either the Balfour Declaration or the British Mandate, and had been expressly disowned by the chairman of the Jewish Agency as recently as 1932.[4]

The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, which brought the British Mandate to an end in 1948, referred to a "Jewish state" and an "Arab state" in its plans for land allotment.

The term Jewish state has been in common usage in the media since the establishment of Israel, and the term has also been used interchangeably with Israel. George W. Bush used the term in his speeches and in an exchange of letters with Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon in 2004.[5] Barack Obama has also used the phrase, for instance in a speech in September 2010 to the United Nations General Assembly.[6] The Israeli government under prime minister Ehud Olmert made the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state by the State of Palestine a pre-condition in the peace negotiations,[7] as did the government of his successor, Benjamin Netanyahu. Palestinians regard the demand for Jewish-state recognition as a trap—a new demand that did not come up during years of negotiations in the 1990s or in peace treaties reached with Egypt and with Jordan. The Palestine Liberation Organization recognized the State of Israel as part of the Oslo Accords in 1993. Palestinians regard acceptance of the demand as giving up their right of return.[8]

On 19 July 2018, with a vote of 62 to 55 (2 abstained), the Knesset adopted a new Basic Law that defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.[9][10]

## Homeland for the Jewish people[edit]

The 1917 Balfour Declaration, referred to "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people". The 1922 Churchill White Paper clarified that "Phrases have been used such as that Palestine is to become 'as Jewish as England is English.' His Majesty's Government regard any such expectation as impracticable and have no such aim in view. They would draw attention to the fact that the terms of the Declaration referred to do not contemplate that Palestine as a whole should be converted into a Jewish National Home, but that such a Home should be founded 'in Palestine.'"[11]

The concept of a national homeland for the Jewish people is enshrined in Israeli national policy and reflected in many of Israel's public and national institutions. The concept was adopted in the Israeli Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948 as the objective of the establishment of modern Israel. The principle was given legal effect in the Law of Return, which was passed by the Knesset on 5 July 1950, and stated: "Every Jew has the right to come to this country as an oleh."[12] This was modified in 1970 to include non-Jews with a Jewish grandparent, and their spouses.

### Secular-religious status quo[edit]

Main article: Status quo (Israel)

Israel has no official religion.[13][14][15] However, the definition of the state as Jewish creates a strong connection as well as a conflict between state law and religious law. Political interaction of different parties keeps the balance between state and religion largely as it existed during the British Mandate.[16] The Gavison-Medan Covenant is a proposal to reform the status quo in order to reinforce the state's Jewish character while reducing religious coercion.[17]

### Jewish and democratic state[edit]

See also: Jewish and democratic state

This section relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources.
Find sources: "Jewish state" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2024)

|

On 19 November 2008, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni addressed the United Jewish Communities General Assembly in Jerusalem. In her speech, she announced: "These two goals of Israel as a Jewish and a democratic state must coexist and not contradict each other. So, what does that mean, a Jewish state? It is not only a matter of the number of Jews who live in Israel. It is not just a matter of numbers but a matter of values. The Jewish state is a matter of values, but it is not just a matter of religion, it is also a matter of nationality. And a Jewish state is not a monopoly of rabbis. It is not. It is about the nature of the State of Israel. It is about Jewish tradition. It is about Jewish history, regardless of the question of what each and every Israeli citizen does in his own home on Saturdays and what he does on the Jewish holidays. We need to maintain the nature of the State of Israel, the character of the State of Israel, because this is the raison d'être of the State of Israel."[18]

## Commonwealth[edit]

Advocates of Israel becoming a more narrowly Jewish commonwealth face at least the following practical and theoretical questions:

1. How should Jews deal with non-Jewish Arab minority in Israel (and the non-Jewish majority in the West Bank and Gaza)?
2. How can Jews in Israel who favor a relatively secular state be assured?[19]
3. What relationship should official Judaism hold vis-à-vis the Government of Israel and vice versa?[20]
4. What role do schools play in supporting Jewish heritage, religion, culture, and state?[21]
5. How will the government be organized (theocracy, constitutional theocracy, constitutional republic, parliamentary democracy etc.)?[22]
6. Should the justice system be based on secular common law, secular civil law, a combination of Jewish and common law, a combination of Jewish and civil law, or pure Jewish law?[19]
7. On what mandate or legal principles should the constitution of a Jewish state be based?[20]

Theorists who ask these questions focus on the future of the State of Israel and realize that although the sovereign political state has been established, there is still much work to be done in relation to the state's identity.[23]

## Criticism[edit]

Linguist and political commentator Noam Chomsky makes a distinction between the concept of "a Jewish ethnic homeland in Palestine" and that of "a Jewish state" in his interview on C-SPAN, saying that he has always supported a Jewish ethnic homeland in Palestine, which is different from a Jewish state. He says that there is a strong case to be made for an ethnic homeland, but he has always been opposed to a Jewish state, for the same reasons he would be opposed to "a Christian state, or a White state, or an Islamic republic". Chomsky believes the concept of a Jewish State (or Muslim, Christian or White State) directly contradicts the concept of a democratic state as it is understood in the Western tradition, because liberal democracy is founded upon a principle in which there is no privileged citizen.[24]

## See also[edit]

* Canaanism, a competing ideology to Zionism that arose in the late 1930s
* Homeland for the Jewish people
* Proposals for a Jewish state
* A Jewish and Democratic State
* Jewish Autonomous Oblast
* Land of Israel / Palestine
* History of Israel / History of the Palestinian people
* Binational solution
* Halachic state
* Pale of Settlement

## References[edit]

1. ^ Kessler, Glenn (2 October 2010). "Defining 'Jewish state': The term was coined by Theodor Herzl, founder of the modern Zionist movement. For some, the term has different meanings". The Washington Post.
2. ^ Kohler, George Y. (2012). Reading Maimonides' philosophy in 19th Century Germany the guide to religious reform. Dordrecht: Springer. p. 146\. ISBN 978-94-007-4035-8. "Maimonides' Messiah is a mortal, worldly kind whose task it is to build a sovereign Jewish state"
3. ^ Stein, Leonard (1961). The Balfour Declaration. New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 470.
4. ^ Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry. Chapter V: the Jewish Attitude
5. ^ Exchange of letters between PM Sharon and President Bush
6. ^ Remarks by the President to the United Nations General Assembly, 23 September 2010 [1]
7. ^ Aluf Benn (12 November 2007). "Israel agrees to free 400 Palestinian prisoners before Annapolis summit". Haaretz. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
8. ^ Washington Post, 2 October 2010: Defining 'Jewish state': For many, term has different meanings
9. ^ "Final text of Jewish nation-state law, approved by the Knesset early on July 19", The Times of Israel
10. ^ "Israel passes controversial ‘Jewish nation-state’ law", Al Jazeera
11. ^ The Arab-Israeli Conflict: An Introduction and Documentary Reader, p. 84
12. ^ Text of Law of Return
13. ^ Charbit, Denis (2014). "Israel's Self-Restrained Secularism from the 1947 Status Quo Letter to the Present". In Berlinerblau, Jacques; Fainberg, Sarah; Nou, Aurora (eds.). Secularism on the Edge: Rethinking Church-State Relations in the United States, France, and Israel. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 167–169. ISBN 978-1-137-38115-6. "The compromise, therefore, was to choose constructive ambiguity: as surprising as it may seem, there is no law that declares Judaism the official religion of Israel. However, there is no other law that declares Israel's neutrality toward all confessions. Judaism is not recognized as the official religion of the state, and even though the Jewish, Muslim and Christian clergy receive their salaries from the state, this fact does not make Israel a neutral state. This apparent pluralism cannot dissimulate the fact that Israel displays a clear and undoubtedly hierarchical pluralism in religious matters. ... It is important to note that from a multicultural point of view, this self-restrained secularism allows Muslim law to be practiced in Israel for personal matters of the Muslim community. As surprising as it seems, if not paradoxical for a state in war, Israel is the only Western democratic country in which Sharia enjoys such an official status."
14. ^ Sharot, Stephen (2007). "Judaism in Israel: Public Religion, Neo-Traditionalism, Messianism, and Ethno-Religious Conflict". In Beckford, James A.; Demerath, Jay (eds.). The SAGE Handbook of the Sociology of Religion. London and Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications. pp. 671–672. ISBN 978-1-4129-1195-5. "It is true that Jewish Israelis, and secular Israelis in particular, conceive of religion as shaped by a state-sponsored religious establishment. There is no formal state religion in Israel, but the state gives its official recognition and financial support to particular religious communities, Jewish, Islamic and Christian, whose religious authorities and courts are empowered to deal with matters of personal status and family law, such as marriage, divorce, and alimony, that are binding on all members of the communities."
15. ^ Jacoby, Tami Amanda (2005). Women in Zones of Conflict: Power and Resistance in Israel. Montreal, Quebec and Kingston, Ontario: McGill-Queen's University Press. pp. 53–54. ISBN 978-0-7735-2993-9. "Although there is no official religion in Israel, there is also no clear separation between religion and state. In Israeli public life, tensions frequently arise among different streams of Judaism: Ultra-Orthodox, National-Religious, Mesorati (Conservative), Reconstructionist Progressive (Reform), and varying combinations of traditionalism and non-observance. Despite this variety in religious observances in society, Orthodox Judaism prevails institutionally over the other streams. This boundary is an historical consequence of the unique evolution of the relationship between Israel nationalism and state building. ... Since the founding period, in order to defuse religious tensions, the State of Israel has adopted what is known as the 'status quo,' an unwritten agreement stipulating that no further changes would be made in the status of religion, and that conflict between the observant and non-observant sectors would be handled circumstantially. The 'status quo' has since pertained to the legal status of both religious and secular Jews in Israel. This situation was designed to appease the religious sector, and has been upheld indefinitely through the disproportionate power of religious political parties in all subsequent coalition governments. ... On one hand, the Declaration of Independence adopted in 1948 explicitly guarantees freedom of religion. On the other, it simultaneously prevents the separation of religion and state in Israel."
16. ^ Englard, Izhak (Winter 1987). "Law and Religion in Israel". The American Journal of Comparative Law. 35 (1). American Society of Comparative Law: 185–208. doi:10.2307/840166. JSTOR 840166. "The great political and ideological importance of religion in the state of Israel manifests itself in the manifold legal provisions concerned with religions phenomenon. ... It is not a system of separation between state and religion as practiced in the U.S.A and several other countries of the world. In Israel a number of religious bodies exercise official functions; the religious law is applied in limited areas"
17. ^ "FAQ". אמנת גביזון-מדן (in Hebrew). 24 June 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
18. ^ Address by FM Livni to the UJC GA Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 19 November 2008
19. ^ a b Halacha and Democracy Archived 12 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine (haGalil)
20. ^ a b Israel as a Jewish State by Naomi Goldstein Cohen (WZO)
21. ^ Education and Ideology by Lawrence Kaplan (WZO)
22. ^ Halacha and Democracy by Joseph Grunblatt (WZO)
23. ^ The State of Israel in Halachic Thought by Gerald J. Blidstein (WZO)
24. ^ Noam Chomsky, Brian Lamb (1 June 2003). In Depth with Noam Chomsky. C-SPAN. Event occurs at 01h27m26s and 02h17m12s. Retrieved 17 November 2016.

## External links[edit]

* Jewish State.com Zionism, News, Links
* Israeli Jewish scene from ynetnews
* Israel as a Jewish state from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
* 'Israel a Jewish state first', says former High Court Justice Dalia Dorner

* v
* t
* e

Zionism

Concepts|

* Zion
* Land of Israel
* Aliyah
* Yerida
* Homeland (proposals)
* Jewish state
* Law of Return
* Yishuv
* Territorialism
* Promised Land
* Gathering of Israel
* Settlement
* Negation of the Diaspora
* Revival of the Hebrew language
* Hebraization of surnames
* Judaization
* Zionism, race and genetics

Ideologies|

* General
* Labor
* Revisionist
* Reform
* Religious
* Cultural
* Federal
* Post-Zionism
* Proto-Zionism
* Neo-Zionism
* Non-Zionism
* Green
* Christian
* Canaanism
* Yiddishist
* Golus

Organizations|

* Histadrut
* Hovevei Zion
* Bilu
* World Zionist Organization
* Zionist General Council
* Zionist Federation of Germany
* Zionist Organization of America
* Zionist Organization of Canada
* Religious Zionists of America
* Jewish National Fund
* Poale Zion
* Jewish Agency for Israel
* Jewish National Council
* Mizrachi
* Bnei Akiva
* Habonim Dror
* Hashomer Hatzair
* Haganah
* HaNoar HaTzioni
* World Agudath Israel
* Irgun
* Betar
* Lehi
* Jewish Party (Czechoslovakia)
* Jewish Party (Romania)
* Jewish Resistance Movement
* Palmach
* Women's International Zionist Organization
* Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America
* Aytzim
* American Zionist Movement
* Am Yisrael Foundation
* Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland
* Institute for Zionist Strategies
* International Fellowship of Christians and Jews
* Nefesh B'Nefesh
* Birthright Israel

History and
timelines

* History of Israel
* Chronology of Aliyah
* History of Zionism
* Balfour Declaration
* UN General Assembly Resolution 3379
* UN General Assembly Resolution 46/86
* Timeline of Zionism
* Israeli–Palestinian peace process
* Timeline of the Arab–Israeli conflict

Holidays|

* Yom HaZikaron
* Independence Day
* Jerusalem Day
* Yom HaAliyah
* Herzl Day
* Jabotinsky Day
* Ben-Gurion Day
* Rabin Day

Related topics|

* List of Zionists
* Anti-Zionism
* The Holocaust
* Antisemitism
* New antisemitism
* Not one inch
* Jewish Autonomism
* Jewish emancipation
* Jewish political movements
* Greater Israel
* Muscular Judaism
* Muslim supporters of Israel
* Progressive except Palestine
* Zionism as settler colonialism
* Zionist antisemitism
* Zionist political violence
* Zio (pejorative)
* Ulpan

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template