Haaretz, Jul 10, 2017

The original bill had a provision stating that Israel would have only one official language, Hebrew, and that Arabic would lose its status as an official language and instead become a language “with a special status.” This provision is in an ongoing dialogue with previous attempts to weaken Arabic’s status in Israel. Arabic is a language that has official status on paper, but in practice is greatly inferior to Hebrew and even to English, which isn’t an official language.

[...] [T]o avoid a chronic situation in which Arabic will have to be “grateful” every year anew to Knesset members who graciously allow it to retain its official status, Jabareen, his party colleagues and those who share his idea, along with civil society, must fight for Arabic not only to remain alive, but also to have a full life – in schools, the media and public service.