Many ethnicities have states that serve as a backstop for their protection while others provide explicit immigration benefits in their Constitutions to those who share their culture of language (as in France and Spain). In this regard, Israel’s Law of Return is unremarkable. The Constitution adds one more Jewish-focused condition and that is that the leadership of the military and intelligence agency be Jews. Again, this is a policy focused on the protection of the Jewish people in their own state. By limiting the control of the Army, the Constitution protects from other sects taking control of the military (as happened in Syria).
These two clauses provide protection for the Jewish people, even if they become a minority in the State of Israel.
However, despite these two clauses, the Constitution does not define Israel as a Jewish State. One reason for this is that it can create a feeling of exclusion, while achieving no practical purpose. The second reason is more critical: the argument about what ‘Jewish’ means is one of the factors driving our people apart. The term means very different things to different people; each group's attempts to take ownership of the definition – and offense when others apply their definitions – is causing an unnecessary rift within the Jewish population.
With this Constitution, Kupot Memshala would be free to define ‘Jewish’ however they want – from IDF service to various Halachic approaches. Or, they could simply choose not to define the term. The State will only use the term in one narrow context: defining who can serve at the head of the military and who is eligible for the right of return. The Constitution establishes a committee for the purposes of establishing ‘Jewish cultural identity.’
Beyond the Jewish-specific articles in the Constitution, the inherent structure of it protects minorities. Critically, the Kupot Memshala and the Constitutional Assembly enable minority approaches to life - whether they be secular, religion, Jewish or Muslim - to be preserved and protected.
To learn more about the Jewish Cultural Identity, see Section 6.3 of the Constitution.
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