Israel's Basic Law: Motivations and Ramifications

On 19 July 2018, the Israeli parliament passed the controversial Basic Law, which defines the nature of the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. This talk analyses the different clauses of the law, reflects on their meaning with the help of the discussions that took place in the Knesset during the legislation period, and ties them with broader political and social processes taking place in Israeli society and politics. Recorded on 30 January 2019. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amal Jamal is Professor of Political Science at Tel Aviv University, where he heads the International Graduate Program in Political Science and Political. He is also Chair of the Walter Lebach Institute for Jewish-Arab Coexistence. He is Co-Editor in Chief of the journal The Public Sphere published in Hebrew. Michael Mason is Director of the Middle East Centre. He is also Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environment and Associate of the Grantham Research Institute for Climate Change and the Environment. His research interests encompass environmental politics and governance, notably issues of accountability, transparency and security. Image: Israel. Purim in Bnei Brak Source: Hemo Kerem / Flickr.