Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Thursday blasted the Knesset over its approval of the “Nationality Law”, claiming the bill is discriminatory.
“Israeli Knesset adoption of ‘nation state’ bill consolidates discrimination. It is a violation of international law, human rights. It is an act that will further fuel tension. International community must stand against it as yet another measure that threatens security, stability,” Safadi tweeted.
The Nationality Law codifies in the nation’s Basic Laws Israel’s status as the nation-state of the Jewish people into Israel’s Basic Laws and establishes Hebrew as its sole official language while giving Arabic special standing.
The Knesset approved the bill in its second and third readings before dawn Thursday morning, by a margin of 62 to 55.
Earlier on Thursday, a spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blasted Israel over the passage of the Nationality Law, and said his government expressed its solidarity with the Palestinian Authority.
The spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, claimed the Nationality Law established an “apartheid state” in Israel.
“We reject the decision to proclaim Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” Kalin tweeted, “as well as the decisions to create new settlements aimed at the systematic stripping of Palestinians from their land, and the Israeli government's attempts to establish an apartheid state.”
The Arab League also condemned the legislation, saying its approval is another bid to cement the “occupation of Palestinian territories”.