NYJW: “ADL Head Slams Loyalty Oath for Arab Israelis”

Aaron Keyak — May 28, 2009 – 11:21 am | Civil Liberties | Israel Comments (1) Add a comment

According to The New York Jewish Week, Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) National Director Abraham Foxman, “slammed as discriminatory and undemocratic two bills from the party of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman that are stoking Arab-Jewish tensions.”

Here’s an excerpt:

Entitled “Loyalty Oath – A Condition for Citizenship,” the draft legislation proposes requiring citizens to declare “loyalty to the state of Israel as a state that is Jewish, Zionist, and democratic, to its symbols and values” and promise to fulfill national service requirements.

“I have a lot of problems with the proposed language because by including a pledge to Zionism it smacks of discrimination,” said Abraham Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League’s national director. “It’s odious. Zionism is something you should aspire to, but it shouldn’t be something that you get punished for if you don’t.”
Foxman noted that the oath would also create problems for fervently Orthodox Jews who don’t recognize Israel’s Zionist character.

Click here to read the rest.

Comments