angelburst29
The Living Force
US Secretary of Defense James Mattis questioned the Russian-sponsored plan on Syrian safe zones saying that Washington is going to study Moscow's proposal.
Pentagon Chief Questions Syria Safe Zones Plan as Russia Saves the Day... Again
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201705081053391049-mattis-russia-syria-safe-zones/
The Pentagon chief told journalists on Monday that the Russian plan poses many unanswered questions, including whether it would be effective.
He said that the possible impact of the plan on US-led fight against Daesh in the country is unclear yet. "Will it affect the fight against ISIS [Daesh]? I think the international community is united in the sense of wanting to see ISIS put on its back foot," the defense secretary said.
"Who is going to be ensuring they're safe? Who is signing up for it? Who is specifically to be kept out of them? All these details are to be worked out and we're engaged," Mattis said.
The Pentagon head was cautious enough not to answer directly a question on whether there is hope that the Russian plan will help end years-long violence in Syria.
"The devil is always in the details, right? So we have to look at the details, see if we can work them out, see if we think they're going to be effective," he continued.
US reviews Syria de-escalation zones but warns ‘devil’s in the details’
https://komnews.org/us-reviews-syria-de-escalation-zones-warns-devils-details/
[...] The US State Department has voiced concerns about the deal, saying it was skeptical of Iran’s involvement as a guarantor of the accord and Damascus’s track record on previous agreements.
Mattis, in some of the most extensive remarks by the Trump administration so far, was cautious when asked about the deal’s chances as he travelled to Copenhagen for talks with US allies.
“All wars eventually come to an end and we’ve been looking for a long time how to bring this one to an end. So we’ll look at the proposal and see if it can work,” he told reporters.
He added that basic details were still unclear, including who specifically would ensure the zones were “safe” and exactly which groups would be kept out of them.
Pressed as to whether he thought the de-escalation zones could help end the conflict, Mattis said: “The devil’s always in the details, right? So we’ve got to look at the details.”
Mattis noted that US Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke about the zones with his Russian counterpart on Saturday.
“This subject was brought up, but there’s a lot of details to be worked out,” Mattis said.
Pentagon Has 'Over 800 Military Bases' Across the Globe With More on the Way
https://sputniknews.com/military/201705071053361424-pentagon-overseas-military-bases/
"We, peace advocates, urge to close foreign military bases. A large-scale campaign is needed right now since we are on the verge of a major armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula which could see the use of nuclear weapons. US warships, nuclear submarines and troops are already there. They pose a threat to China, all nations in the region and the peace in the world," he said.
These remarks were made during the V International Seminar for Peace and elimination of Foreign Military Bases held in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, on May 4-6. Representatives of approximately 30 countries took part in the event.
Antonio Barreto criticized the United States for carrying out an interventionist foreign policy and investing millions into its overseas military presence.
"These bases present a threat to humanity. American imperialism has promoted them. Right now, the US has more than 800 military bases on all continents. The Trump administration does not intend to reduce their number. Instead they are building new ones as seen in Argentina, Colombia and other nations, primarily located in South America," he said.
Unsurprisingly, the International Seminar has always taken place in the Cuban province of Guantanamo, a place which has become synonymous with torture and unlawful detention.
"Approximately 117 kilometers of the Guantanamo province have been occupied by a US military base, which has turned into a center for torture and horrifying violation of human rights of alleged 'terrorists' kept there for more than a decade," Barreto said.
US Navy SEAL killed in raid on Somalia's al-Shabaab
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/News/2017/5/5/US-Navy-SEAL-killed-in-raid-on-Somalias-al-Shabaab
The US' Africa Command (AFRICOM) said the soldier was killed in fighting with al-Shabaab militants on Thursday close to the capital Mogadishu.
It is believed the soldier was a US Navy SEAL while two other Americans were injured in the raid on an al-Shabaab compound.
"One US service member was killed during an operation against al-Shabaab near Barii, Somalia, approximately 40 miles (65 kilometres) west of Mogadishu," AFRICOM said in a statement.
It comes after the US announced it was sending "a few dozen troops" to Somalia help train and equip Somalia troops to fight Shabaab militants.
US special forces have been deployed in Somalia for years, while Washington has carried out countless drone strikes on Shabaab targets.
The death on Thursday appears to be the US' first military loss in Somalia since 1993, when 18 American servicemen died in what is called the Battle of Mogadishu. This was portrayed in the 2002 Hollywood blockbuster Black Hawk Down.
The battle saw two American Black Hawk helicopters shot down, sparking a desperate rescue mission that resulted in hundreds of deaths, including many civilians and the US personnel.
"We do not believe there has been a case where a US service member has been killed in combat action in Somalia since the incident there in 1993," Mack told AFP.
AFRICOM said the US forces in the raid were on an "advise-and-assist mission alongside members of the Somali National Army".
Two helicopters were involved in the raid, firing missiles before landing to unload soldiers, after which a heavy firefight broke out, Moalim Muhidin, a local source told AFP.
Abdirisak Farah, a Somali military officer, said there were casualties on both sides, with six Shabaab fighters killed.
Shabaab claimed credit for killing the US soldier and said it repelled the raid.
"An air landing operation by US Special Forces was thwarted in Lower Shabelle province and a number of their soldiers were killed and wounded," the group said, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.
A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Captain Jeff Davis, described the raid as a "Somali mission" against a Shabaab compound housing individuals linked to attacks on Somali and US forces.
He said the US team had been "maintaining a distance back" from the Somali troops when it came under fire.
Davis did not identify the US personnel in the team. But he said they were operating "under the same authorities" in place since 2013, suggesting they were US special operations commandos.
"We do have an enduring presence of about 50 US special operations that work in Somalia doing this advise-and-assist mission to the SNA," he said.
Washington has insisted that Shabaab poses a grave threat to US security, and has also launched attacks on nearby Yemen where al-Qaeda have established a stronghold.
A US special forces raid was launched weeks after President Donald Trump took office on a suspected al-Qaeda base in Yemen led to the death of one American soldier and up to 25 civilians.
Somalia has been ravaged by decades of fighting allowing the al-Qaeda linked al-Shabaab group to take over large parts of the country.
An African-led force has helped Somalia push back the militants, but they still pose a potent threat to the country which is only just beginning to establish a stable government in the capital.
Israel: Doctors refusing to force treatment on Palestinian hunger strikers must find their own replacement
_http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page//.premium-1.787483
Doctors who refuse to force treatment on hunger striking Palestinian security prisoners whose lives are in danger must find another physician willing to treat the patients, the Health Ministry ordered.
Over 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli prisons, mostly Fatah members led by Marwan Barghouti, began a hunger strike on April 17, demanding additional privileges, and most are still continuing with their strike.
In a letter distributed to Israeli hospitals on Wednesday, the Health Ministry refreshed the regulations and procedures concerning hunger strikers as part of the preparations for treating the striking prisoners, hundreds of whom are still not eating.
A new instruction was added at the end of the letter, saying doctors who think that the patient requires treatment but are unwilling to carry it out against the patient's will – even if the Israel Medical Association has decided that the doctor is allowed to administer such treatment – must immediately transfer the patient to another doctor, who is at least as qualified, and who is willing to carry out the treatment. The doctor must then immediately inform their direct professional supervisor and the hospital management, the letter said.
The new guidelines have led to a great deal of criticism from the IMA. Dr. Tami Karni, the chairwoman of the IMA Ethics Board, says that placing the responsibility of finding a replacement doctor on the physician who refuses to carry out such treatment is improper and not customary in other areas of medical ethics.
In the past, the IMA has strongly objected to allowing doctors to participate in such treatments, including force feeding, and has even petitioned the High Court of Justice against a law permitting the force-feeding of prisoners who go on a hunger strike. The High Court, however, ruled in 2016 that the law is constitutional.
The treatment of hunger-striking prisoners is considered to be particularly sensitive in the medical system and in the Health Ministry. Senior ministry and hospital officials have made great efforts over the years to avoid any actions that could be interpreted as violating medical ethics and human rights, or those of a political nature.
Over the past few years, the health system has had to deal with a number of hunger strikers whose medical conditions seriously deteriorated. In the end, they were kept alive without taking any medical action against their will, because they had either reached an agreement with the government or had received specific medical treatment reaching a level of trust with the medical staff.
Dr. Sigal Liverant, the head of the general medicine division in the ministry, told hospitals that it is best to establish an ethical treatment team to convince the hunger striking patients through dialogue to receive food and treatment. Such a move could prevent the need for the ethics committees in the hospitals to intervene.
The hospital ethics committees are entitled to decide whether to force a patient to receive treatment, including hunger strikers. In 2015, an amendment to the prison regulations took effect, which allows the president of a district court or her deputy to allow providing medical treatment for prisoners on a hunger strike against their will.
The new regulations allow medical intervention for hunger strikers when the patient has ended their objections to treatment; when they no longer refuse treatment; in situations when the patient cannot express such agreement or refusal, such as when they are confused, unconscious, etc; in medical emergencies that pose an immediate danger to the patient's life, or a danger of permanent, irreversible disability exists. Resuscitation, when needed to prevent death, meets all the accepted medical ethics rules, wrote Liverant. No ethical obstacle exists to carry out medical tests, with the patient's agreement or that of the ethics committee.
Karni said the IMA has not changed its position on the matter in any way. Today, when a patient is in a condition in which they lose their ability to express their wishes, doctors will act on their behalf to prevent their death. "So far the doctors have not acted against the ethical rules, and I believe this is what will happen this time too," said Karni.
Israel escalates Palestinian home demolitions in Jerusalem
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2017/5/6/israel-escalates-palestinian-home-demolitions-in-jerusalem
In 2016, Israeli demolitions reached a 10-year high in the occupied territories, with over 1,560 Palestinians displaced by the destruction of homes and agricultural structures, according to UN data.
The current pace of demolitions in 2017 is set to overtake last year's record high.
Since Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank in 1967, over 48,000 Palestinian homes and agricultural structures have been demolished in the occupied territories, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions says.
In that time, house demolitions and other Israeli policies have internally displaced at least 160,000 Palestinians, according to the group.
Most house demolitions in the West Bank take place in Area C, over 60 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli administrative and security control where most Israeli settlements are located.
In East Jerusalem, demolitions take place in strategic areas to create a geographic reality where Israeli sovereignty cannot be challenged and division of the city as part of the two state solution becomes impossible.
Israel takes steps to define itself as a Jewish state and demote the status of the Arabic language
http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-israel-jewish-state-bill-20170507-story.html
Among other things, the bill downgrades Arabic from its current status as an official language of the state to that of “special” language to make government services accessible to the country’s Arab citizens.
Entitled “Israel — The Nation-State of the Jewish People,” the bill declares that “the right to realize national self-determination in the state of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.”
If passed by the parliament, the legislation would become part of Israel’s quasi-constitutional series of “Basic Laws” and require a special majority to repeal.
The purpose of the bill is to “protect the status of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people,” said a statement from Avi Dichter, a lawmaker from Netanyahu’s Likud Party. Dichter argued that none of Israel’s 11 Basic Laws deals with the identity or definition of the Israeli state.
The bill is a watered-down version of past proposals for a “nation-state” law that were abandoned amid criticism that they would prioritize Israel’s Jewish identity over its democratic values. The adoption of the current proposal by the government’s ministerial committee on legislation gives the bill momentum as it heads to Israel’s parliament, the Knesset.
Efforts to pass such a bill follow demands by Netanyahu in peace talks that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
The bill is a “law to protect the majority while trampling on the rights of the minority,” tweeted Ayman Odeh, the leader of the Joint List parliamentary faction, which represents most of the country’s Arab citizens. “The tyranny of the majority is turning us into second-class citizens.”
Israel Considers Bill that Would Downgrade Arabic From Official Language
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201705091053401171-israel-bill-arabic-official-language/
The bill, sponsored by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, would make Hebrew the sole official language of Israel. Arabic would continue to enjoy a "special status" with "its speakers [having] the right to language-accessible state services," according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Government services would be made available in Arabic, an availability which is not universal at this time.
"The State of Israel is the national home of the Jewish people, in which it realizes its aspirations for self-determination according to its cultural and historic traditions. The realization of national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people," the bill reads. In addition to the issue of official languages, it also touches on Israel's Jewish character, anthem, symbols, and flag.
Avi Dichter, the bill's sponsor, said that the bill was necessary to "set in law our national identity while remaining a democratic state." It would be "a big step toward establishing our identity, not only universally, but mainly toward ourselves, the Israelis, to be a free nation in our land," he added.
Pentagon Chief Questions Syria Safe Zones Plan as Russia Saves the Day... Again
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201705081053391049-mattis-russia-syria-safe-zones/
The Pentagon chief told journalists on Monday that the Russian plan poses many unanswered questions, including whether it would be effective.
He said that the possible impact of the plan on US-led fight against Daesh in the country is unclear yet. "Will it affect the fight against ISIS [Daesh]? I think the international community is united in the sense of wanting to see ISIS put on its back foot," the defense secretary said.
"Who is going to be ensuring they're safe? Who is signing up for it? Who is specifically to be kept out of them? All these details are to be worked out and we're engaged," Mattis said.
The Pentagon head was cautious enough not to answer directly a question on whether there is hope that the Russian plan will help end years-long violence in Syria.
"The devil is always in the details, right? So we have to look at the details, see if we can work them out, see if we think they're going to be effective," he continued.
US reviews Syria de-escalation zones but warns ‘devil’s in the details’
https://komnews.org/us-reviews-syria-de-escalation-zones-warns-devils-details/
[...] The US State Department has voiced concerns about the deal, saying it was skeptical of Iran’s involvement as a guarantor of the accord and Damascus’s track record on previous agreements.
Mattis, in some of the most extensive remarks by the Trump administration so far, was cautious when asked about the deal’s chances as he travelled to Copenhagen for talks with US allies.
“All wars eventually come to an end and we’ve been looking for a long time how to bring this one to an end. So we’ll look at the proposal and see if it can work,” he told reporters.
He added that basic details were still unclear, including who specifically would ensure the zones were “safe” and exactly which groups would be kept out of them.
Pressed as to whether he thought the de-escalation zones could help end the conflict, Mattis said: “The devil’s always in the details, right? So we’ve got to look at the details.”
Mattis noted that US Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke about the zones with his Russian counterpart on Saturday.
“This subject was brought up, but there’s a lot of details to be worked out,” Mattis said.
Pentagon Has 'Over 800 Military Bases' Across the Globe With More on the Way
https://sputniknews.com/military/201705071053361424-pentagon-overseas-military-bases/
"We, peace advocates, urge to close foreign military bases. A large-scale campaign is needed right now since we are on the verge of a major armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula which could see the use of nuclear weapons. US warships, nuclear submarines and troops are already there. They pose a threat to China, all nations in the region and the peace in the world," he said.
These remarks were made during the V International Seminar for Peace and elimination of Foreign Military Bases held in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, on May 4-6. Representatives of approximately 30 countries took part in the event.
Antonio Barreto criticized the United States for carrying out an interventionist foreign policy and investing millions into its overseas military presence.
"These bases present a threat to humanity. American imperialism has promoted them. Right now, the US has more than 800 military bases on all continents. The Trump administration does not intend to reduce their number. Instead they are building new ones as seen in Argentina, Colombia and other nations, primarily located in South America," he said.
Unsurprisingly, the International Seminar has always taken place in the Cuban province of Guantanamo, a place which has become synonymous with torture and unlawful detention.
"Approximately 117 kilometers of the Guantanamo province have been occupied by a US military base, which has turned into a center for torture and horrifying violation of human rights of alleged 'terrorists' kept there for more than a decade," Barreto said.
US Navy SEAL killed in raid on Somalia's al-Shabaab
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/News/2017/5/5/US-Navy-SEAL-killed-in-raid-on-Somalias-al-Shabaab
The US' Africa Command (AFRICOM) said the soldier was killed in fighting with al-Shabaab militants on Thursday close to the capital Mogadishu.
It is believed the soldier was a US Navy SEAL while two other Americans were injured in the raid on an al-Shabaab compound.
"One US service member was killed during an operation against al-Shabaab near Barii, Somalia, approximately 40 miles (65 kilometres) west of Mogadishu," AFRICOM said in a statement.
It comes after the US announced it was sending "a few dozen troops" to Somalia help train and equip Somalia troops to fight Shabaab militants.
US special forces have been deployed in Somalia for years, while Washington has carried out countless drone strikes on Shabaab targets.
The death on Thursday appears to be the US' first military loss in Somalia since 1993, when 18 American servicemen died in what is called the Battle of Mogadishu. This was portrayed in the 2002 Hollywood blockbuster Black Hawk Down.
The battle saw two American Black Hawk helicopters shot down, sparking a desperate rescue mission that resulted in hundreds of deaths, including many civilians and the US personnel.
"We do not believe there has been a case where a US service member has been killed in combat action in Somalia since the incident there in 1993," Mack told AFP.
AFRICOM said the US forces in the raid were on an "advise-and-assist mission alongside members of the Somali National Army".
Two helicopters were involved in the raid, firing missiles before landing to unload soldiers, after which a heavy firefight broke out, Moalim Muhidin, a local source told AFP.
Abdirisak Farah, a Somali military officer, said there were casualties on both sides, with six Shabaab fighters killed.
Shabaab claimed credit for killing the US soldier and said it repelled the raid.
"An air landing operation by US Special Forces was thwarted in Lower Shabelle province and a number of their soldiers were killed and wounded," the group said, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.
A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Captain Jeff Davis, described the raid as a "Somali mission" against a Shabaab compound housing individuals linked to attacks on Somali and US forces.
He said the US team had been "maintaining a distance back" from the Somali troops when it came under fire.
Davis did not identify the US personnel in the team. But he said they were operating "under the same authorities" in place since 2013, suggesting they were US special operations commandos.
"We do have an enduring presence of about 50 US special operations that work in Somalia doing this advise-and-assist mission to the SNA," he said.
Washington has insisted that Shabaab poses a grave threat to US security, and has also launched attacks on nearby Yemen where al-Qaeda have established a stronghold.
A US special forces raid was launched weeks after President Donald Trump took office on a suspected al-Qaeda base in Yemen led to the death of one American soldier and up to 25 civilians.
Somalia has been ravaged by decades of fighting allowing the al-Qaeda linked al-Shabaab group to take over large parts of the country.
An African-led force has helped Somalia push back the militants, but they still pose a potent threat to the country which is only just beginning to establish a stable government in the capital.
Israel: Doctors refusing to force treatment on Palestinian hunger strikers must find their own replacement
_http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page//.premium-1.787483
Doctors who refuse to force treatment on hunger striking Palestinian security prisoners whose lives are in danger must find another physician willing to treat the patients, the Health Ministry ordered.
Over 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli prisons, mostly Fatah members led by Marwan Barghouti, began a hunger strike on April 17, demanding additional privileges, and most are still continuing with their strike.
In a letter distributed to Israeli hospitals on Wednesday, the Health Ministry refreshed the regulations and procedures concerning hunger strikers as part of the preparations for treating the striking prisoners, hundreds of whom are still not eating.
A new instruction was added at the end of the letter, saying doctors who think that the patient requires treatment but are unwilling to carry it out against the patient's will – even if the Israel Medical Association has decided that the doctor is allowed to administer such treatment – must immediately transfer the patient to another doctor, who is at least as qualified, and who is willing to carry out the treatment. The doctor must then immediately inform their direct professional supervisor and the hospital management, the letter said.
The new guidelines have led to a great deal of criticism from the IMA. Dr. Tami Karni, the chairwoman of the IMA Ethics Board, says that placing the responsibility of finding a replacement doctor on the physician who refuses to carry out such treatment is improper and not customary in other areas of medical ethics.
In the past, the IMA has strongly objected to allowing doctors to participate in such treatments, including force feeding, and has even petitioned the High Court of Justice against a law permitting the force-feeding of prisoners who go on a hunger strike. The High Court, however, ruled in 2016 that the law is constitutional.
The treatment of hunger-striking prisoners is considered to be particularly sensitive in the medical system and in the Health Ministry. Senior ministry and hospital officials have made great efforts over the years to avoid any actions that could be interpreted as violating medical ethics and human rights, or those of a political nature.
Over the past few years, the health system has had to deal with a number of hunger strikers whose medical conditions seriously deteriorated. In the end, they were kept alive without taking any medical action against their will, because they had either reached an agreement with the government or had received specific medical treatment reaching a level of trust with the medical staff.
Dr. Sigal Liverant, the head of the general medicine division in the ministry, told hospitals that it is best to establish an ethical treatment team to convince the hunger striking patients through dialogue to receive food and treatment. Such a move could prevent the need for the ethics committees in the hospitals to intervene.
The hospital ethics committees are entitled to decide whether to force a patient to receive treatment, including hunger strikers. In 2015, an amendment to the prison regulations took effect, which allows the president of a district court or her deputy to allow providing medical treatment for prisoners on a hunger strike against their will.
The new regulations allow medical intervention for hunger strikers when the patient has ended their objections to treatment; when they no longer refuse treatment; in situations when the patient cannot express such agreement or refusal, such as when they are confused, unconscious, etc; in medical emergencies that pose an immediate danger to the patient's life, or a danger of permanent, irreversible disability exists. Resuscitation, when needed to prevent death, meets all the accepted medical ethics rules, wrote Liverant. No ethical obstacle exists to carry out medical tests, with the patient's agreement or that of the ethics committee.
Karni said the IMA has not changed its position on the matter in any way. Today, when a patient is in a condition in which they lose their ability to express their wishes, doctors will act on their behalf to prevent their death. "So far the doctors have not acted against the ethical rules, and I believe this is what will happen this time too," said Karni.
Israel escalates Palestinian home demolitions in Jerusalem
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2017/5/6/israel-escalates-palestinian-home-demolitions-in-jerusalem
In 2016, Israeli demolitions reached a 10-year high in the occupied territories, with over 1,560 Palestinians displaced by the destruction of homes and agricultural structures, according to UN data.
The current pace of demolitions in 2017 is set to overtake last year's record high.
Since Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank in 1967, over 48,000 Palestinian homes and agricultural structures have been demolished in the occupied territories, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions says.
In that time, house demolitions and other Israeli policies have internally displaced at least 160,000 Palestinians, according to the group.
Most house demolitions in the West Bank take place in Area C, over 60 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli administrative and security control where most Israeli settlements are located.
In East Jerusalem, demolitions take place in strategic areas to create a geographic reality where Israeli sovereignty cannot be challenged and division of the city as part of the two state solution becomes impossible.
Israel takes steps to define itself as a Jewish state and demote the status of the Arabic language
http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-israel-jewish-state-bill-20170507-story.html
Among other things, the bill downgrades Arabic from its current status as an official language of the state to that of “special” language to make government services accessible to the country’s Arab citizens.
Entitled “Israel — The Nation-State of the Jewish People,” the bill declares that “the right to realize national self-determination in the state of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.”
If passed by the parliament, the legislation would become part of Israel’s quasi-constitutional series of “Basic Laws” and require a special majority to repeal.
The purpose of the bill is to “protect the status of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people,” said a statement from Avi Dichter, a lawmaker from Netanyahu’s Likud Party. Dichter argued that none of Israel’s 11 Basic Laws deals with the identity or definition of the Israeli state.
The bill is a watered-down version of past proposals for a “nation-state” law that were abandoned amid criticism that they would prioritize Israel’s Jewish identity over its democratic values. The adoption of the current proposal by the government’s ministerial committee on legislation gives the bill momentum as it heads to Israel’s parliament, the Knesset.
Efforts to pass such a bill follow demands by Netanyahu in peace talks that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
The bill is a “law to protect the majority while trampling on the rights of the minority,” tweeted Ayman Odeh, the leader of the Joint List parliamentary faction, which represents most of the country’s Arab citizens. “The tyranny of the majority is turning us into second-class citizens.”
Israel Considers Bill that Would Downgrade Arabic From Official Language
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201705091053401171-israel-bill-arabic-official-language/
The bill, sponsored by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, would make Hebrew the sole official language of Israel. Arabic would continue to enjoy a "special status" with "its speakers [having] the right to language-accessible state services," according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Government services would be made available in Arabic, an availability which is not universal at this time.
"The State of Israel is the national home of the Jewish people, in which it realizes its aspirations for self-determination according to its cultural and historic traditions. The realization of national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people," the bill reads. In addition to the issue of official languages, it also touches on Israel's Jewish character, anthem, symbols, and flag.
Avi Dichter, the bill's sponsor, said that the bill was necessary to "set in law our national identity while remaining a democratic state." It would be "a big step toward establishing our identity, not only universally, but mainly toward ourselves, the Israelis, to be a free nation in our land," he added.
