Learn about the history of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, equality and justice by exploring major events in the history of their oppression on this day of the year.
20 January
On January 20th 1972, the final decision given in Tamarin v State of Israel. Georges Rafael Tamarin petitioned the Supreme Court to be allowed to have Israeli nationality on his ID card. Judge Agranat reaffirmed previous Israeli law that Zionism denies the existence of an Israeli nation. He ruled that, “There is no Israeli nation separate from the Jewish people…The Jewish people is composed not only of those residing in Israel but also of diaspora Jewries.” Israel insists it is not a state of its citizens but of Jews around world.
20 يناير 2021م
في مثل هذا اليوم من عام 1972 ، صدر القرار النهائي في قضية تامارين ضد دولة إسرائيل. قدم رافائيل تامارين التماساً إلى المحكمة العليا للسماح له كتابة الجنسية الإسرائيلية على بطاقة هويته. وجدد القاضي أغرانات التأكيد على القانون الإسرائيلي السابق بأن الصهيونية تنفي وجود امة إسرائيلية. لقد قرر أنه "لا توجد أمة إسرائيلية منفصلة عن الشعب اليهودي ... والشعب اليهودي لا يتألف فقط من المقيمين في إسرائيل ولكن أيضًا من يهود الشتات". تصر إسرائيل على أنها ليست دولة لمواطنيها بل دولة يهود العالم.
Israeli nationality is not permitted in Israel. To be clear, there is no such legal category in Israel as ‘Israeli nationality’ for Israeli citizens.
‘Israeli nationality’ is expressly disallowed by the Israeli courts; the distinction between ‘nationality’ and ‘citizenship’ is enforced in Israel. It is indispensable to the system of state-enforced political and economic discrimination against Palestinians.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign affairs website deliberately conceals the truth, for example on the English language website of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (see image at top). The deception is maintained here.
Israeli courts, however, have repeatedly refused to allow Jewish Israeli citizens to amend their official ‘Jewish nationality’ to Israeli nationality on the grounds that, “There is no Israeli nation separate from the Jewish nation…composed…also of Diaspora Jewry”. Allowing Israeli nationality, say Israeli judges and politicians, “would negate the very foundation upon which the State of Israel was formed.”
People are often confused by the difference between citizenship and nationality when it comes to Israel. This issue most recently came up in the spat between Israeli celebrity Rotem Sela who asked, “when will anyone in this government tell the public that this is a state of all its citizens,” to which Prime Minister Netanyahu replied it wasn’t, and said that it was a nation state of Jews alone...
Israel uses this dual construct of citizenship and nationality to confuse and even downright deceive the international community – indeed even its own citizens...
The main confusion lies in the fact that Israel applies the notion of ‘nationality’ and ‘nation’ in a radically different manner to that which is commonly understood in most of the world today. Normally, ‘citizenship’ and ‘nationality’ are basically understood as a one thing. If you’re, say, a French citizen, you’re considered a French national. No French authority will consider you a ‘Jewish’ national – that would be racist! You’re French? Be a Jew, be a Muslim, whatever – you’re still a French national. On your passport it will say ‘Nationality – French’ – that will be your national identity.
Israel does not, repeat, does not, recognize an Israeli nationality. But we Israelis do have a notation in our passports that says: ‘Nationality – Israeli’. How can this be? It is so, because Israel is lying. Israel defines ‘Jewish’ as a Nationality, along with over 130 other ‘Nationalities’ including ‘Arab’. The purpose of this is to reserve exclusive national rights to Jews only, in the Nation State of the Jewish People. The ‘national’, institutionalized tie of Jews all over the world, by the Jewish state of Israel, is thus sweeping and extra-territorial.
Full article here
8-minute video: Netanyahu insists only Israeli Jews have key political right in Israel