MK draws ire for likening ‘Jewish State’ bill to Nazi-era bystanderism

Yesh Atid MK Yael German is under fire by coalition lawmakers for implying that allowing the so-called Jewish State bill was comparable to the silence of the Poles in the face of Nazi-era atrocities.

“Following a visit to the Majdanek concentration camp I understood that one cannot remain silent in the face of injustices against minorities,” German said at a committee meeting to discuss the controversial nation-state bill.

Likud MK Avi Dichter, who sponsored the bill, slams German for making “despicable” and “inappropriate” Holocaust comparisons, while Jewish Home MK Shuli Moalem-Refaeli calls her comment “false and a serious distortion of history.”

The proposed legislation contains a clause seen as legally sanctioning Jewish-only communities in Israel, but the same provision could exclude not only Arabs, but also other minorities, such as Jews of Middle Eastern origin, ultra-Orthodox Jews, or homosexuals from certain communities.