Court throws out school discrimination suit as Israel tests nationality law
An Israeli court’s decision against Arab children demanding to be reimbursed for traveling to a distant Arabic-speaking school illustrates the dangerous implications of the 2018 nationality law.
Israel’s 2018 nationality law anchored the Jewish character of the state of Israel. It was first introduced by the Likud and by a few Knesset members of centrist Kadima in 2011, but many legislators were against it, protesting that it discriminated against Israel’s Arab and Druze citizens and also Palestinians. Two years after its adoption, the law continues to evoke bitter debate. In a recent case concerning Arab-Israeli children living in the Jewish-majority town of Carmiel in the Galilee, a judge ruled recently on a petition calling for reimbursing travel to an Arabic-speaking school that the "Jewish character" of Carmiel must be preserved.
The Carmiel case illustrates the fears expressed by the law's opponents. They predicted that it would formalize inequality and discrimination against non-Jewish minorities, including in matters of housing and places of residence.
