Rivlin doubles down on criticism of discriminatory part of nation-state bill

Speaking at an event celebrating 50 years of the World Zionist Organization’s Settlement Division, President Reuven Rivlin appeared to double down on his opposition to a much-criticized clause in the Jewish nation-state bill currently under consideration in the Knesset that would make it legal for small villages and towns to discriminate in accepting new residents based on ethnicity and religion.

He suggested the clause was unnecessary.

“In the Jewish and democratic, democratic and Jewish, State of Israel, we have proven that settlement flourishes everywhere, for every person, in that they are a person and a citizen in our state,” Rivlin says.

He praises the Israeli settlement movement for its establishment of communities throughout all of Israel and the West Bank.

— Jacob Magid