Mohammad from Israel

A young law professor came to talk at the UCLA Nazarian center Feb 11, 2015

Jewish and Democratic?: A Perspective from Israel's Arab Minority

Professor Mohammed S. Wattad

Bright and clever, he has an impressive law career.

He started his talk by telling us about a conference he attended in Canada where he presented himself to a Canadian judge: "I am Mohammad from Israel."  The judge asked "How come?"  This comment made him think deeply about his identity and having to explain that he is an Israeli Arab.  He does not feel as a Palestinian but as an Arab.

He talked as a lawyer from a legal point of view and tried to keep religion out of his discussion. He described the partition plan by the British, which he read very carefully:

“Two states to two people: One state Jewish with an Arab minority, a second state Arab with a Jewish minority.  BOTH PALESTINIANS.”  Ben Gurion accepted the plan, but the Arabs rejected it.

He pointed out that Israel has no constitution; therefore it is wrong for anyone to claim that it is a constitutional democracy.  He talked about Israel's series of basic laws jokingly saying that Jews have a hard time agreeing on anything, so that is why there was never a constitution.

One of the basic laws from 1992 deals with human dignity, liberty and the right to life.

(If I understand correctly there are no laws dealing with freedom of speech or social and economic rights.)

The main body that keeps law and justice in Israel is the 15 member Supreme Court, the only body that protects human rights and democracy.  It is the Supreme Court that established the democratic facets of the state.  He brought examples of the Supreme Court decisions.

He talked about Israeli Arabs not serving in the army. But the issue is that soldiers who do serve are discriminated to be the only ones protecting the security of Israelis, including orthodox Jews and Arabs who do not serve.  One of the solutions was that those who do not serve in the army would serve in another kind of National service.

Mohammad made a very clever point saying that in that case every Israeli should have a choice how to serve.  This is very clever again.  Legally it makes sense.  But practically this is a trap for IDF.  The power of IDF is that EVERY ISRAELI is a soldier. It is the strength of the whole, the strength of the spirit.

People asked him about the impossibility of a separate Palestinian state and mentioned that withdrawals from Lebanon and Gaza brought in Hezbollah and Hamas.  His answer was that Israel was the one who created Hamas as opposition to PLO.  In addition he claimed that a unilateral withdrawal is not the same as a negotiated withdrawal.

My question to Mohammad and any Arab is: Where do they expect the Jews to live, be independent and have freedom of religion?  I told him I understand his feelings of being a minority.  I mentioned my family’s history from Mashhad where they were forced to convert to Islam, to Israel where they are free as Jews.  It is the only place where Jews can live freely.  Even in the US, the greatest democracy and defender of human rights I am in the minority.  Mohammad had no answer for me.

I want to stress here that I have followed many opinions of moderate Arabs.  They invariably find intelligent informed facts to point out why Jews cannot keep the state of Israel into the foreseeable future:

The Arabs build their homes along the slope of the mountains.  Jews build high rise buildings that stick out of the natural curve of the hill.  They do not belong in this land.

The title of this talk is most ubiquitous: Israel cannot be Jewish and Democratic.  

There are a million ways to prove this point, but I stress: Israel MUST be Jewish and democratic.  It has to be.  There is no other option.  The Arab neighbors of Israel need to accept it, understand it and participate in making sure this is the case.

The continuous efforts of Arabs to criticize everything done by Israel, to demonize it, boycott and sanction it only prolongs the conflict and there will never be any winners.

The announcement about the speaker: 

Since its inception, Israel was established as a constitutional democracy, even in the absence of a constitution, primarily due to the leading role that the Supreme Court has played in this context. In this talk, Professor Wattad will address various perceptions of Jewish democracy, recent changes in Israeli distribution of power, how Israel’s minorities are affected, and how a Jewish democracy will and should play out in Israel’s future. From his unique perspective, he will also discuss the importance of the court system and rights for minorities, as well as current threats to Israel’s democracy.

Professor Mohammed S. Wattad is a legal scholar specializing in international and comparative criminal law, comparative constitutional law, international law, and legal issues surrounding war, torture, and terrorism. A graduate of Haifa University School of Law, Wattad holds a Master of Law degree from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He also attended Columbia University as a Fulbright Scholar, where he earned his Juris Doctorate and another Master of Law degree. From 2003-2004, he served as a legal clerk at the Supreme Court of Israel under the supervision of Justice Dalia Dorner. He is currently an assistant professor at Zefat College School of Law in Israel and is editor-in-chief of the Journal 'Medicine and Law'.