Nation of Israel’s Constitution:
Nation of Israel has a Proclamation of Independence establishing the state of Israel is of the type of the US Declaration of Independence. However, it does not have a formal written constitution of the type of the US Constitution. The Proclamation of Independence calls for the establishment of one quickly but it has not yet been done mainly due to religious vs secular contentions.
Israel’s Knesset is the parliament or legislative body of Israel’s government. Its website has information on an informal constitution here and here.
Sources for information on the absence of a formal constitution and how Israel operates without one include Jewish Virtual Library, The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Israeli Today News, Constitution Project document entitled Israel’s Constitution of 1958 with Amendments through
2013, and Institute for Zionist Studies.
Definition of Citizen and Citizenship:
Israel seemingly does not have a clear definition of who is a citizen for all purposes. Citizenship and who is a citizen seems to be defined differently for religious purposes and for secular purposes. Perhaps Israel as a young nation is going through the same birthing lack of clarity for political and other reasons as the USA did as the US Constitution did not initially defined who is a citizen. It was the 14th Amendment that provided clarity to who is a citizen in the USA.
Definition of Word Semitic and Anti-Semitic/Anti-Semitism:
The word Semitic has reference to language not religion or skin color or nationality. However, some use it in reference to a particular people who identify with the Hebrew language which is believed to be at least the main language of Abraham and his descendants at least up to and including the Old Testament biblical timeframe. However, the Jews are not the only people who can claim Semitic association since Hebrew is not the only Semitic language and thus not the only Semitic people though Israelites/Jews be one such group of people. When Jews speak of anti-Semitic they by definition make such a claim with respect to their subset of of Semitic people. Since they are the ones who seem to have majorized the use of the term it is usually associated with them in the absence of otherwise explicitly stated that it in not about them or restricted to them.
Race and Nationality:
The following statement is found in the Nation of Israel Proclamation of Independence:
“The State of Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
