Israeli court shoots down bid to de-nationalise ID card

Published: July 19, 2008

An aerial view shows the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem's old city in February 2008. An Israel court has shot down a bid by a group of prominent citizens to have the word "Israeli" inscribed on their identity cards instead of the current "Jew", "Arab", "Russian" and other classifications, an official said on Saturday. (AFP Menahem Kahana)

JERUSALEM (AFP) An Israel court has shot down a bid by a group of prominent citizens to have the word "Israeli" inscribed on their identity cards instead of the current "Jew", "Arab", "Russian" and other classifications, an official said on Saturday.

The group had petitioned the court to be allowed to be identified as "Israeli people" rather than in accordance with the classifications normally used by the Jewish state.

The Israeli identity card as well as the national register demand that the "national group" of the individual be identified, to distinguish in particular between Jews and non-Jews.

Israeli law recognises 136 "national" groups, the main one being "Jew" -- as well as a host of religious minorities such as Druze.

"It is completely legitimate and respectable to be regarded as belonging to the 'Israeli people' but this affiliation does not have legal status in Israel, so the court cannot rule in this matter," the District Court in Jerusalem said.

The group claimed to have collected thousands of signatures on a petition entitled "I am Israeli" demanding that the term "Israeli" be used on identity cards.

The petition was spearheaded by linguist Uzi Ornan, Israeli writer Yehoshua Sobol and left-wing former MPs Uri Avnery and Shulamit Aloni.

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