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Hebrew spoken here.
A new bill before the Knesset would designate Hebrew as the primary official language of Israel, and Arabic, English and Russian as secondary official languages.
“There are too many people challenging the very idea of the legitimacy of Israel being a Jewish state,” Yuli Edelstein, a member of the Knesset, said by telephone Thursday. “So, it’s important to make a statement that Hebrew is the official language.”
Arabic shares equal status with Hebrew as an official language of Israel, a holdover from a 1922 law enacted during the British Mandate of Palestine.
Often, English is a de-facto third official language. All three appear on Israeli currency and street signs. And in many parts of the country, Russian is widely used, as 20 percent of Israelis speak Russian as a first language.
Edelstein, of the conservative Likud party, as well as three others, from a spectrum of center-right parties, introduced the legislation last month. They are awaiting a government response and then will schedule a preliminary reading.
Official signs, ceremonies, public documents and announcements would be in Hebrew only, with the exception of areas where more than half the population speaks one of the secondary languages, in which case the secondary language would also be used.
Critics of the bill say it would further marginalize Israel’s Arab minority. Some 1.45 million, or roughly 20 percent of Israel’s population, are Arab, although most speak Hebrew fluently.
And what about those visitors who rely on Latin transliterations to navigate Israel’s roads?
“I can promise you that the authors of this legislation will make sure no one gets lost,” Edelstein said.
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