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Undemocratic demography
Ensuring Jewish majority via human rights violations could de-legitimize Zionism
The fear of losing the Jewish majority in Israel has played a major role in the thinking behind the country's future when it comes to the disengagement plan, amendments to the Citizenship Law, the Lieberman plan for trading territory, and the activity of the National Demographic Council.
The desire to guarantee the majority does not necessarily contradict liberal principles of humanism and human rights.
Many national groups present a legitimate demand to realize their right for self-determination through a majority in their own country. This requirement is particularly strong in Israel in light of the Middle-East conflict. It is clear that failing to maintain a Jewish majority would lead, under current circumstances, to a substantive threat to the personal security of Jews in Israel.
However, the State of Israel is not only "Jewish," but rather, also "democratic." Therefore, it must balance these legitimate aims with human rights.
An expression of this can be found in Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom, which requires that means that limit human rights be rational, undermine rights as little as possible, and maintain proportionality between the benefit derived from the means to the extent of undermining the rights.
A softened up version of the Law of Return can be considered a proper means for maintaining the Jewish majority because it does not greatly undermine minority rights.
Beyond the fact that such laws exist in other democracies across the globe, the law does not directly discriminate against Israel's Arab citizens. The High Court of Justice, in the community of Katzir case, ruled that the Law of Return "Provides a special entry key into the home for members of the Jewish people," and as such, grants those of Jewish nationality justified preference in entering their country.
However, the court added, "Once a person is at home as a legal citizen, he enjoys equal rights just like all other household members." Therefore, the ban on reuniting Arab citizens of the country with Palestinians is unjustified. This is so because it faces the Arab "household residents" with a cruel choice: Leaving Israel or renouncing their basic right to maintain family life with their loved ones.
A Zionist person, who is also a humanist, must disapprove of a law that undermines human rights in such a grave manner, particularly when its contribution to maintaining a Jewish majority is insignificant.
Demographic considerations obscured
The National Demographic Council's modus operandi is also very problematic. Even though the Committee chairman declared that any benefit aiming to encourage childbirth would be equally earmarked to Jews and Arabs, reality shows this was not done in the past (as is the case with army veterans' allowances) and there is a basis to fear this will not be done in the future.
Beyond the fact that using the female uterus to achieve national goals constitutes a blow to equality between the sexes, encouraging Jewish childbirth leads to discrimination against Arab citizens when it comes to earmarking resources. In addition, encouraging Jewish childbirth conveys the grave message that Arab children are unwanted in the country, thus classifying Arab citizens of Israel as second-class citizens.
It turns out that some of the means for maintaining a Jewish majority on the agenda of Israeli society tend to be disproportional. In many cases, the State obscures the demographic considerations, and it is clearly impossible to maintain a proper balance between human rights and considerations that are concealed.
Moreover, demographic arguments usually focus on existential fears we all have: The fear of extinction and the phobias we have in regards to the "other" in society. History proves that panic, anxieties, and a sense of threat are a tried and true recipe for gravely undermining minorities in particular and human rights in general, in a manner that in retrospect proves to be unjustified.
In an era featuring growing calls that question the legitimacy of the Jewish State's very existence, adopting moves aimed at realizing demographic objectives in a manner that does not conform with human rights could deeply erode the Zionist Movement's legitimacy.
Dr. Moshe Cohen-Eliya and Dr. Gila Stopler are constitutional law lecturers at the Ramat Gan College of Law
