THE JEWISH STATE OF ISRAEL

The legislation states that "the State of Israel is the national home of the Jewish People in which it realizes its hope for self-determination according to its traditional and historic heritage" and that "the right to national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish People."

Though critics of the bill say it puts Israel's Jewishness before democracy, the bill does declare "the State of Israel has a democratic regime." In addition, there are 11 Basic Laws detailing features of Israeli democracy, whereas this would be the only one dealing with its Jewishness.

The bill also states that all citizens, regardless of religion or nationality, have equal individual rights, including the ability to preserve their heritage.

One of the more controversial aspects of the legislation is that it states Hebrew is the official language of the state, whereas Arabic has a "special status" and Arabophones have the right to access to all governmental services in their language. While critics of the bill say that it is advancing Hebrew over Arabic, the former has always been the State of Israel's official language, while the latter has never been an official language by law, and a "special status" would legally elevate it from its current position.

Another divisive article is that the government work toward "Jewish settlement in its land and allocate resources to this goal," as well as one stating that Jewish law should be an inspiration for lawmakers and judges.

In addition, the bill states that holy places must be protected from "anything that could harm the freedom of access by religions to the places that are sacred to them or to their sentiments toward those places." This could support claims that Jewish people should be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount.

The proposal also states that Hatikva is the national anthem, that the Jewish calendar is the official one, that Jewish schools will teach Jewish history and tradition, that every Jewish person has the right to move to Israel and the government will strengthen ties with the Jewish Diaspora, as well as describing the Israeli flag and the state symbol.

"The judiciary, which recognizes Israel's democratic side, will also have to recognize that Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish People," Netanyahu said at the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting.