Israel’s anti-miscegenation law

JVL Introduction

Under the guise of improving protection for women, Israel has passed a new law but its aim is actually quite different. The new law imposes harsher punishments for sexual harassment, assault, and rape committed with “nationalistic motivations.” It also places such crimes under Israel’s draconian anti-terrorism law (which are almost exclusively used to target Palestinians).

According to Amal Oraby of the New Israel Fund, the law fits into an increasingly dominant racist narrative: its real goals are to prevent racial mixing, criminalise Arabs, and legally encode Jewish supremacy.

For good measure, ratification of the Istanbul Convention, an international agreement seeking to eradicate violence against women, has been blocked because it would have allowed non-Jewish women to seek asylum in Israel, upsetting the racial purity of the state.

It would also have required schools to teach a curriculum on gender equality and gender-based violence, something Israel’s far-right parties abhor.

RK

This article was originally published by Jewish Currents on Tue 15 Aug 2023. Read the original here.