Political Authority and the Construction of Truth
The Nationality and Entry into Israel Law at the Intersection of Law, Security, and Demography (2003–2022)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54103/2037-2426/29257Keywords:
Security, Demography, Ethnonationalism, Truth, Political PowerAbstract
This paper analyzes the Nationality and Entry into Israel Law as a normative tool for shaping citizenship and exercising political power in Israel. Although officially justified on grounds of national security, the law also serves demographic objectives: namely, limiting family reunification between Palestinian citizens of Israel and residents of the Palestinian Occupied Territories in order to preserve the Jewish majority. However, this demographic aim is not explicitly stated, due to concerns that it may be incompatible with the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty. The Nation-State Law of 2018 has provided an ethnonational framework that supports the legislation, yet it does not resolve the tension with the principle of equality. This study demonstrates how institutions contribute to the construction of an official ‘truth’ centered on security, while the demographic objective operates implicitly, producing concrete effects of exclusion. The law thus functions as a political instrument that determines who can belong to the nation and who remains on its margins.
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Accepted 2025-11-21
Published 2026-03-02
