The Knesset adopted the controversial nationality law on July 19, anchoring the Jewish nature of the State of Israel. In response to the public uproar in Israel and around the world following the passage of the law in the Knesset, its authors and supporters have claimed that it does not change the current reality and does not hurt the equal rights of minorities. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu surpassed himself and, as his custom, attacked the left and demanded that it check itself. In his opening remarks at the Cabinet meeting following the passage of the law on July 29, Netanyahu said: “Does determining that our flag bears the Star of David somehow abrogate the individual right of anyone among Israel's citizens? Nonsense, but determining this ensures that there will not be another flag. Does determining that Hatikvah is our national anthem detract from the personal rights of any person in Israel? Nonsense, but it does determine that there will not be another anthem. … We are not ashamed of Zionism. We are proud of our state, that it is a national home for the Jewish people, which strictly upholds — in a manner that is without peer — the individual rights of all its citizens.’’

Not even two months later and the district court in Jerusalem proved the impact of the nationality law when Judge Moshe Drori relied on the nationality law to decide on compensation for victims of a terror attack.

The plaintiff, David Mashiach, was a witness in 1998 to a terror attack in Tel Aviv and suffered shock. Later he was diagnosed as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, which impacted his everyday functioning. In 2007, he and his family submitted a claim for compensation from Hamas, which carried out the attack.

In the verdict, decided Sept. 17 against Hamas, Drori analyzed, among other things, the question of punitive damages and noted the addition of the nationality law to the Israeli law book and Clause 6a in particular: “The state will strive to ensure the safety of the members of the Jewish people in trouble or in captivity due to the fact of their Judaism or their citizenship.”