Israel approves controversial 'Jewish nation state' law
Jerusalem, July 19 : Israel's parliament on Thursday passed into law a controversial bill that defines the country as an exclusively Jewish state.
The "Jewish nation state" bill downgrades Arabic as an official language and says advancing Jewish settlement is a national interest. It also states that the "whole and united" Jerusalem is its capital, BBC reported.
Israeli Arab MPs condemned the legislation but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised it as a "defining moment".
The bill, backed by the country's right-wing government, says that "Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people and they have an exclusive right to national self-determination in it".
It was passed after a stormy session in the Knesset that lasted more than eight hours. Sixty-two MPs voted for the bill, with 55 against.
However some clauses were dropped following objections by Israel's president and attorney-general, including a clause that would have enshrined in law the creation of Jewish-only communities.
Israeli Arabs make up about 20 per cent of the Israel's population of about nine million people.
They have equal rights under the law, but have long complained of being treated as second class citizens and say they face discrimination and worse provision of services such as education, health and housing.
Arab MP Ahmed Tibi said the bill's passing represented the "death of democracy". Adalah, an Arab rights NGO, said the law was an attempt to advance "ethnic superiority by promoting racist policies".
Last week, Netanyahu defended the law, saying: "We will keep ensuring civil rights in Israel's democracy but the majority also has rights and the majority decides."
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Rahul targets Jaishankar, says his silence is 'damning'
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday launched a fresh attack on External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, saying his silence on the number of aircraft India "lost" after Pakistan was "informed" about the military action under Operation Sindoor is "damning".
The Congress leader had earlier also targeted the government on the issue, suggesting that the Indian side informed Pakistan ahead of the military strikes on terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
"EAM Jaishankar's silence isn't just telling, it's damning. So I'll ask again: How many Indian aircraft did we lose because Pakistan knew?" he asked in a post on X.
"This wasn't a lapse. It was a crime. And the nation deserves the truth," Gandhi also said.
Gandhi had earlier shared an undated video clip of Jaishankar and wrote, "Informing Pakistan at the start of our attack was a crime. EAM has publicly admitted that GOI (government of India) did it."
"Who authorised it? How many aircraft did our air force lose as a result," the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha had asked.
The Ministry of External Affairs had described as "utter misrepresentation" claims that Jaishankar acknowledged that India alerted Pakistan before the launch of Operation Sindoor on May 7.
"The external affairs minister had stated that we had warned Pakistan at the start, which is clearly the early phase after Operation Sindoor's commencement," the external publicity (XP) division of the ministry said.
"This is being falsely represented as being before the commencement. This utter misrepresentation of facts is being called out," it said in a brief statement.
Under Operation Sindoor, India, on early May 7, destroyed nine terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (PoK) in retaliation against the Pahalgam terror attack.
All subsequent retaliations by Pakistan were carried out under the operation.
The two sides reached an understanding on cessation of hostilities on May 10 after four days of confrontations.
