{"id":16194,"date":"2018-09-12T14:43:35","date_gmt":"2018-09-12T13:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=16194"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:58:14","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:58:14","slug":"no-place-in-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=16194","title":{"rendered":"No place in democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>Unite delegate Claire Lees today (September 12) told a packed TUC conference how pleased she was to be able to second an emergency motion submitted by train drivers union ASLEF.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bCongress, as you have heard the Israeli parliament has recently passed a new law that says that Israeli national self-determination is unique to Jews,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut Israel has citizens from many other ethnic and religious groups \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Palestinians obviously \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but Druze and Christians also,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This new law promotes one ethnic and religious group above all others.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEven with a sizable Palestinian minority in Israel \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a minority but citizens nonetheless \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the new law has relegated the status of Arabic as an official language,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Lees.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Lees made clear an attack on language is clearly an attack on cultural identity and national aspiration.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese measures have echoes of the apartheid years in South Africa and we unreservedly condemn such actions,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bCongress, we do not stand alone in making such condemnations,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Quotes taken from the Jewish Chronicle \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere is concern that some of the measures in this law are regressive steps.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis law is a slap in the face to Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel. Legislation that identifies first and second class citizens has no place in democracy.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs British Jews \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 we must speak up in opposition to this racist bill which turns minorities in Israel into second class citizens.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The first quote is from a senior member of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the second from the Chief Executive of the New Israel Fund and the third from Yachad, campaigners for a two state solution.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf the traditional cheerleaders for Israel are so critical of the national law we should have no fear in our condemnation,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Lees.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe should call it out for what it is \u00e2\u20ac\u201c racism and apartheid. Congress, I have no time to speak about the unspeakable Donald Trump other than to say we unreservedly condemn his actions,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Lees urged congress to support the motion.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unite delegate Claire Lees today (September 12) told a packed TUC conference how pleased she was to be able to second an emergency motion submitted by train drivers union ASLEF. &nbsp; \u00e2\u20ac\u015bCongress, as you have heard the Israeli parliament has recently passed a new law that says that Israeli national self-determination is unique to Jews,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16205,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[61,808,242,1008],"wps_subtitle":"An attack on language is an attack on cultural identity ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16194"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16194"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25886,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16194\/revisions\/25886"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}