Hostile Arabic bill slips below the radar

As wars rage, Tel Aviv zeros in on its ultimate goal of dehumanising its Palestinian citizens

The nation-state bill abolishes Arabic as an official language of Israel. David Furst / AFP

There has been a cacophony of noise surrounding leaked video footage that claims to show Marwan Barghouti, the Palestinian prisoner and hunger striker, eating biscuits inside his Israeli prison cell. But as is often the case, a sensationalist commotion is created around one story to detract attention from another. The story the Israelis seek to camouflage is arguably one of the most serious of all.

A bill has passed through Israel’s parliament abolishing Arabic as an official language. Its pretext is the alleged preservation of its national identity against supposed elements seeking to undermine Israel. But this kind of subterfuge fools only the few. Through the revised version of the so-called nationality law, Israel is moving towards its ultimate target, ensuring its ethnocracy survives the perils of a growing Palestinian community inside Israel.

Perhaps Israel’s parliamentarians were emboldened by the thought that with so much else going on in the world, the bill would recive less coverage than it deserves. Maybe they thought that the complex political equations of international politics had settled decisively in their favour.

But the real reason is that Israel knows no one will stop its institutions from using the law to further what is sees as an essential agenda: creating an exclusively Jewish state. Laws already exist to restrict almost every aspect of Palestinian life, but this particular bill now encroaches upon the language spoken by more than a fifth of Israel’s citizens and all of its occupied population.

The ramifications are obvious but must be restated: it will set a precedent for the rejection and abuse of entire communities. Israel’s Palestinians may soon fear speaking Arabic on the street. They will be discriminated against to the point where they will have no choice but to live in self-contained communities – marginalised ghettos or South African-style cantons that will no doubt become the targets of crime and contempt.

It almost goes without saying that this is yet another manifestation of Israel’s frantic attempt to forever alter the facts on the ground.

Israel is enshrining in law the dehumanisation of nearly 1.7 million people. This bill has been described by more than one analyst as an open declaration of war. While we could debate whether that statement goes too far, the bill is, undoubtedly, a look into the Israeli political mindset and a reminder of the increasingly hostile nature of its lawmakers.