ABSTRACT

The Declaration of Independence promises that the citizens of Israel will enjoy complete equality in political and social rights, irrespective of race, religion or sex. This chapter examines to what extent the legal system tolerates encroachments on the principle in laws or legal arrangements that discriminate between Jews and non-Jews. It deals with a brief review of the conception of the term equality adopted in Israeli jurisprudence and an explanation of the categories of discrimination that shall be employed in the course of the discussion. In the Nazareth Lands case the court expressed the opinion that only if discrimination were intentional and malicious would it be regarded as grounds for interfering in an administrative decision. The decision of the Supreme Court in the Avitan case suggests that the court is indeed prepared to accept the legitimacy of positive discrimination.