Naftali Bennett, a settler leader and the economics minister, recently used a commentary in the New York Times to argue that Israel should formally end the peace process and annex the entire West Bank.
Netanyahu has found himself being increasingly outmaneuvered by political challengers on his right as his coalition wobbles, threatening a general election, said Bar Ilan University's Klein. "He needs to show he is the true leader of the right-wing camp."
In advancing the Jewish nation-state bill, Netanyahu has usefully put clear water between himself and the centrists in his cabinet, Yair Lapid and Tzipi Livni, both of whom have publicly opposed the measure.
He is also making good on the hard line he adopted during the peace negotiations that collapsed in the spring. During the talks, Netanyahu stirred controversy by demanding that the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state by Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority become a key condition for an agreement.
Zahalka pointed out that Netanyahu had faced much criticism domestically: "There were those who said 'How can we ask the world to recognize us as a Jewish state, when we ourselves aren't clear what we mean by a Jewish state?'
"This helps to silence such critics," Zahalka added.
Implications of disloyaltyIn addition, Netanyahu appears to have adopted a political strategy of intentionally aggravating relations between the state and the Palestinian minority, in part, it seems, to position himself as the true champion of an Israeli public moving ever further to the right.
According to Jafar Farah, director of Mossawa -- the Advocacy Centre for Arab Citizens in Israel -- Netanyahu's bill is "aimed at increasing the tension between Jews and Arabs."
Shortly before his ministers voted to approve the measure, Netanyahu suggested that it was needed because two areas of Israel with large Palestinian populations posed a threat to the state. "There are some who wish to form autonomies in the Galilee or Negev and thus reject our nationality," Netanyahu said.
The implication of disloyalty echoed inflammatory comments the prime minister made earlier this month in the wake of violent protests that followed the screening of a video showing police shooting dead a Palestinian youth in Israel as he fled.
Netanyahu suggested then that the protesters should be stripped of their citizenship and "move to the Palestinian Authority or to Gaza ... Israel will not put any obstacles in your way."
Further rationale for the law is a perception on the right that legal challenges from human rights groups like Adalah over the past two decades have threatened to gradually reverse the achievements of Zionism and erode the founding principles of the Jewish state.
The state's Achilles' heel -- on this reading -- is the country's Supreme Court, the highest judicial body, which the right wing views as a bastion of liberalism and judicial activism.
Yariv Levin, chairman of the current ruling coalition and one of the drafters of the nation-state legislation Netanyahu has adopted, justified the bill on the grounds it would "return Israel to its Zionist roots, after years of ongoing damage done by the justice system."
Crisis of ZionismYoram Hazony, head of the Herzl Institute, a Jerusalem-based research center guided by traditional Zionist thinking, identified in a recent blog post the moment of crisis for Zionism: a hearing before the Supreme Court in 2000.
In that case, the Kaadan family appealed against its rejection from Katzir, one of the hundreds of Jews-only communities in Israel. The Kaadans had been barred by an admissions committee, whose chief function since Israel's founding has been to block Palestinians from gaining access to most of the habitable land in Israel.
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