Vice-Presidents of the S&D Group in the European Parliament, MEPs Elena Valenciano and Victor Boştinaru, made an official statement on Monday expressing the group's concern regarding the Jewish Nation-State bill in the Israeli Knesset.

The statement comes a few weeks after a delegation of representatives from the Joint List, accompanied by the Mossawa Center and the Israel office of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, visited the European Parliament to discuss the threats the bill poses to the rights of the Palestinian Arab minority, as well as to democracy in Israel.

During a meeting with S&D parliamentarians, the delegation highlighted the various ways in which the bill contravenes international law, human rights, democratic principles, and EU standards. Referencing the official translation, the delegation noted that the bill would deny Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel the right to self-determination, downgrade the status of the Arabic language, and allow for segregation in housing. For a more detailed analysis of the Jewish Nation-State bill and its implications for the rights of the Arab Palestinian minority, democracy, and the Middle East peace process, please see the Mossawa Center’s position paper.

In their statement, MEPs Valenciano and Boştinaru refer to the Jewish Nation-State bill as a likely “attempt to deepen and legalise systemic discrimination against the Palestinian Arab minority” in Israel. They, in turn, “urge president Antonio Tajani and High Representative/vice-president Federica Mogherini to raise their voice and to make it explicit that the adoption of this bill in its current shape - against the strong protest of the Palestinian Arab community constituting one-fifth of the population - is incompatible with the basic values of EU-Israel relations and with the image of Israel as a solid democracy in the Middle East.”

Although it was approved by the Knesset Ethics Committee, the Joint List has faced much political incitement for its mission to Brussels and Paris. The Minister of Justice, Ayelet Shaked, for example, framed the mission—in which the delegation called for equal rights and a two-state solution based on internationally-recognized pre-1967 borders—as an attempt to “destroy coexistence between Jews and Arabs in Israel.” MEPs Valenciano and Boştinaru address this, as well, rejecting such “unjustified political pressure on members of the Knesset from the Joint List… following their recent visit to Brussels.”

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