Knesset Advances Bill Requiring Senior Diplomats Pledge Allegiance to Israel as Jewish State

“Whoever does not identify with the fact that the State of Israel is Jewish and democratic will not be willing to fight on its behalf in the diplomatic arena,” says foreign minister.

By Ben Rappaport, United with Israel

The Knesset last week approved in first reading a bill requiring heads of consular missions to pledge allegiance to the State of Israel as a Jewish and Democratic state.

The bill was supported by 19 MKs, versus six opposing votes. It now will be turned over to the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee for deliberation.

The bill proposes to law the stipulation that a person who is appointed by the government to the post of the head of a diplomatic or consular mission abroad will be required, before being given the letter of appointment, to make this declaration: “I pledge to bear allegiance to the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.”

The explanatory notes to the bill state: “The head of a diplomatic or consular mission is the official and senior representative of the sovereign in a foreign state, who represents, by nature of his post, the positions of the state and the Government abroad and [speaks] in its name. He is in charge of the political, security, economic, public diplomacy, cultural and scientific ties with the highest-ranking officials in the host country.”

“Given the importance of the representativeness and the non-partisanship to which he is committed by virtue of his post, and given his responsibility and obligation to express faithfully the government’s policy, both in foreign relations and in domestic policy—it is proposed to add to the Civil Service Law (Appointments), in addition to the existing declaration requirement applying to all civil servants, section 34a. This section will stipulate that a person appointed by the government under section 23 of the law as head of a diplomatic or consular mission abroad will be required to make an additional declaration of allegiance before being given a letter of appointment.”

The proposed pledge would come in addition to the one diplomats already must make to “undertake to maintain loyalty to the State of Israel and its laws and to fulfill with honesty and faith every duty imposed on me as a civil servant.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs Eli Cohen presented the bill, saying: “This bill has symbolic importance but also important practical significance. Whoever does not identify with the fact that the State of Israel is Jewish and democratic will not be willing to fight on its behalf in the diplomatic arena. The bill will prevent in the future inappropriate appointments that will harm Israel. The role of state emissaries is to represent the state and its values around the world, and to act on behalf of its interests. Israel has been and always be Jewish and democratic, and whoever doesn’t recognize this simple fact cannot serve as an ambassador or consul and represent us.”

Minister Cohen says the bill comes to prevent appointees to consular positions such as former Meretz MK Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi, who was appointed last year by then Foreign Minister Yair Lapid as Consul General to Shanghai. Zoabi had previously co-signed a document entitled “The future vision for Palestinian Arabs in Israel” which didn’t recognize Israel as a Jewish state and called to cancel the Right of Return.

In an interview with Kan News in February 2022 following her appointment, Zoabi discussed the current relevance of the document, saying “The document was written by a group of over 40 people. We had disagreements among us, including on this issue. As far as I’m concerned Israel is democratic, and I want it to be even more democratic and, primarily, equal. A year ago, when I entered the Knesset, I swore allegiance to the State of Israel in its definition today, as Jewish and democratic.”

Asked whether she would sing the national anthem, Hatikva, at consular events, she said that the “Jewish soul yearns” lyric of the anthem was not something everyone could identify with.

“It excludes me,” she said, noting she does not know the anthem by heart.