The Israeli state’s racist character is intensifying

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 20 July 2018, Nicosia

Yesterday the Israeli Parliament “Knesset” passed a law for a “Jewish nation-state” Bill. This Law stipulates that the right of self-determination is recognized only to Jews in the country, while the Arab language is abolished as an official and equal language to Hebrew.

This is a racist law that strengthens the Apartheid regime and the discriminations applied in Israel against the Palestinian Arabs. The Arab minority accounts for 20% of the population of Israel and is made up of Palestinians who have remained on their land after the 1948 war. In essence, those Palestinians who Israel hasn’t managed to force out are treated as second class citizens and face constant discrimination that refer to Apartheid practices.

In addition, this racist and dangerous law fully supports and promotes the policy of expanding the settlements which Israel is using with the sole aim of expelling the Palestinians from their land.

The law passed despite the strong reactions that existed on the part of the “Joint List”, the Communist Party of Israel and other political forces, who characteristically declared that this new law is racist, colonialist and undemocratic.

AKEL denounces the strengthening of the Apartheid-type regime by Israel, as well as the expansion of the occupation through the settlements. At the same time, AKEL expresses its solidarity with the struggle of the progressive forces inside Israel, as well as with the struggling Palestinian people.