Symbols of the State, its Holidays, and Official Languages.
Symbols of the State, its Holidays, and Official Languages.
Symbols of the State of Israel
Description of the Present-Day Situation
Symbols of the State, its Holidays, and Official Languages.
Symbols of the State, its Holidays, and Official Languages. Symbols of the State of Israel Description of the Present-Day Situation Israel's symbols are its flag, the seal or emblem of the state,and the national anthem, Hatikva. The flag consists in two horizontal stripes and the Star of David between them, all in light-blue on a white background. The two stripes are intended to recall the Talit, or prayer shawl; the Star of David, or David's Shield, has served as a Jewish symbol since as early as the seventh century BCE (Kashani 1998). The emblem is also blue and white, and depicts the menorah (candelabrum) from the ancient temple in Jerusalem surrounded by an olive branch on either side; all this above the word "Israel" in Hebrew. The national anthem describes the millenia-old Jewish hope of freedom and return to the homeland.
The national days of rest in Israel correspond to the major Jewish holidays: Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, the first and last days of Sukkot (Tabernacles) and Passover, and Shavuot (Pentecost). Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, is the national day of rest. Non-Jews have the right to observe their own holidays according to their customs. Israel's two official languages are Hebrew and Arabic, and all ordinances, official government forms and documents must be presented in both languages. The state broadcasts radio and television news in both languages, and a Member of Knesset may address the plenum in either language. The educational system is divided as well, with some schools taught in Arabic, and other schools taught in Hebrew. History Flag The flag of Israel was originally the banner of the World Zionist Organization, and was first adopted as the flag of the Zionist Congress in 1897. It soon came to be recognized as the Zionist flag for Jewish communities throughout the world, and was hung behind David Ben-Gurion at the ceremony of the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel.
Emblem The emblem of Israel was designed in Israel and was adopted nine months after the establishment of the state. It appears on official documents, the presidential standard, and public buildings in Israel and abroad. The seven-branched candelabrum of the ancient Jewish temple -- the menorah -- occupies the center of the emblem. The menorah is the oldest known symbol associated with the Jewish people, and appears on ancient coins, mosaic floors, and decorative glass. The menorah depicted is based on that seen on the Arch of Titus in Rome. The menorah is surrounded by two olive branches, expressions of the Jewish people's love for peace. On the bottom is the word "Israel," both the name of the state and a reference to a longer phrase, "Shalom al Israel" (Peace over Israel) which appears below the menorah in the sixth-century mosaic floor of the synagogue in Jericho. Anthem Israel's national anthem, Hatikvah ("The Hope"), was written by Naftali Herz Imber and was set to music in Palestine in the early 1880s. It is about the hope of the Jews to return to Israel through 2,000 years of exile. National Languages Israel currently has two official languages: Hebrew and Arabic. This legal status derives historically from Britain’s Palestine Mandate of 1922, which stated in Article 22, "English, Arabic, and Hebrew shall be the official languages of Palestine. Any statement or inscription in Arabic on stamps or money in Palestine shall be repeated in Hebrew, and any statement or inscription in Hebrew shall be repeated in Arabic." Section 82 of the Palestine Order-in-Council (1922) further requires that "All ordinances, official notices, and official forms of the Government... shall be published in English, Arabic, and Hebrew..." In 1948, Israel enacted the Law and Administration Ordinance, which adopted laws prevailing in the country at 1948 (including British Mandatory law) as Israeli law, with several amendments and exceptions. Section 15(b) specified that, "Any instruction in the law requiring the use of English is hereby annulled." This left Israel with two official languages to this day. Current Issues and Controversy Symbols, anthem, and holidays. The symbols, holidays, and anthem of the State of Israel represent Jewish history, culture, and Zionist ideology; the debate over these symbolic elements stands in for the larger debate over the definition of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. The symbols are exclusive, representing the majority and not the minority. The questions are clear: may Israel's symbols remain exclusively Jewish and Zionist, or might they be changed to represent the Arab minority? Does the minority have a right to demand a crescent be placed beside the Star of David, a stanza about the Naqba ("catastrophe," the term by which Arabs generally refer to the founding of Israel and the displacement of Arabs) added to the anthem, or a national day of rest on the 'Eid Al-Fitr? Or, alternatively, does the Jewish majority have the right to define its symbols at will? If Israel's demographic balance shifts, will this affect its symbols, or will they be safeguarded by the constitution?
Some, including several MKs, believe the symbols should be ensconced in the constitution, unchangeable. MK Gideon Sa'ar (Likud) serves as chairman of a subcommittee for Jewish symbols in the constitution, and has told the committee he believes Israel must safeguard its Jewish character lest the two-state Israeli-Palestinian solution become a "state-and-a-half solution" wherein one state would be Palestinian and the other half Palestinian and half Jewish (click here to read the minutes from committee debates on minority rights). This school of thought interprets Israel's democracy to include a full protection of the minority groups' freedoms to practice their religion and culture but does not compel the state to recognize their collective symbols in its own -- the symbols constitute neither interference with nor discrimination against non-Jewish groups. Its adherents generally consider Israel’s Jewish character inalienable.
A second school of thought is described by Professor Ruth Gavison in her article, "The Jews’ Right to Statehood: A Defense " (2003; see sources, below). This approach, shared by several MKs and many Jewish and Arab Israelis, states that the majority in a democracy retains the right to define the symbolic elements that characterize its community, even when such symbols are exclusionary (which they usually are) -- so long as this does not infringe on the basic rights of any citizen. This approach differs from the first in that it posits the right to Jewish symbols in Israel as conditional upon the maintenance of a Jewish majority. If, at any point in the future, the majority were to cease to be Jewish, Jews would lose their right to define the state's symbols.
The third school of thought, supported by many Arab citizens and MKs as well as some Israelis, believes Israel's current symbols unjustly ignore its non-Jewish minorities. They say that every citizen population has a communal right to be represented and to be proud of the symbols of their state, regardless of whether they are in the majority or in the minority. The constitution, some Arab scholars have argued, can be an instrument of inclusion, granting a sense of belonging to the Arabs, and it should. The alternative is a harsh and complex frustration of a large, indigenous minority <link to Adel Mana'a remarks at minority rights opening session>. One Arab expert invited to brief the Constitutional Committee on minority rights (Dr. Michael Karayanni of the Hebrew University) proposed a single national holiday with no political weight that all could share. This holiday, like the constitution itself, might constitute the beginnings of a shared sphere of citizenship. Professor Yehezkel Dror of the Jewish People Policy Planniing Institute suggested in a subcommittee meeting that Arab communities be encouraged to add a symbol of their own to the upper-left-hand corner of the Israeli flag in order to make it their own.
The subcommittee for Jewish symbols in the constitution has met several times (click here to read minutes of their discussions), and while it has not yet produced its reports, broad consensus has emerged within the subcommittee for a section entrenching the current flag, emblem, and anthem in the constitution. Several members of the subcommittee as well as invited experts have proposed texts for this chapter, and the subcommittee has filed several recommendations delivered to the subcommittee but not presented at its meetings.
The subcommittee’s debates give expression to the fears of those segments of Israeli society who feel the threat of marginalization. The Arab sector, long fearful of a constitution which would offer Arab acceptance of a Zionist worldview which leaves them behind, are not represented on the subcommittee, and several recommendations the subcommittee has considered would remove Arabic from the list of official state languages (leaving it with “special status”). The ultra-orthodox are similarly afraid that the final text will secularize the Jewish character of the state, substituting a legal, social, and cultural Judaism for the Halakhic orthodox one, particularly in the public sphere. Language: signage, education Language has become a particular poignant playing field for the cultural competition between Jews and Arabs in Israel. While those in the Knesset who advocate repealing the official status of Arabic are still a minority, there is considerable debate among MKs, citizens, and courts debate how the state should express the fact of two official languages. Two cases that have been at the center of public debate in recent years are education and signage. While some democracies, most notably France, impose the national language on its citizens, requiring that the language on instruction in all French classrooms be French and even, until several years ago, requiring that all newborns be given proper French names from a predetermined list (Avineri 1998), Israel has allowed the Arab community cultural and linguistic autonomy in these matters since its inception. Arabs may educate their children in Arabic at all levels. The committee has entertained no recommendations to change this status quo.
In 1999, the Supreme Court heard a case brought against Tel Aviv-Jaffa and other Israeli cities of mixed Arab/Jewish populations, requesting that the municipality post all road signs in both Hebrew and Arabic on every street sign in every neighborhood throughout the city. The Court eventually found in favor of this suit, declaring that while Hebrew is Israel's first and most important language, Arabic's importance is far greater than that of any other language spoken by a major minority group.
The Supreme Court declared that Arabic’s importance is derived from both formal and intrinsic characteristics. Arabic’s formal legal status as the only official language besires Hebrew grants it special consideration in the law. Beyond this, however, Chief Justice Aharon Barak added that Arabic has been spoken in Israel’s territories for ages by its largest minority group. He also expressed an intrinsic respect for the culture of the descendents of Abraham, and based his ruling in favor of Arabic signage in mixed-population cities on both clusters of claims.
Sources:
Avineri, Shlomo. Ethnic Minorities in Democratic Nation-States. In: The Arabs in Israeli Politics: Dilemmas of National Identity (Eli Rekhes, ed.), Tel Aviv University / Dayan Center Press. 1998. (Hebrew)
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