Hollywood star Natalie Portman raps Israel’s nation-state law as ‘mistake and racist'

Famous Israeli-American actress Natalie Portman has denounced a controversial Israeli law, which defines the occupied territories as the so-called nation-state of the Jewish people, as “racist.”

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi daily newspaper published on Thursday, Portman - who was born in Jerusalem al-Quds and grew up in the United States - said she did not support the law.  

“The nation-state law is racist. It is a mistake and I don’t agree with it ... [people’s] lives are [being] affected on a personal level by decisions made by politicians,” the actress said. 

“I only hope that we will be able to truly love our neighbors and that we can work together with our neighbors for change,” she added. 

This is not the first time that Portman has leveled criticism against the policies of the Israeli regime.

In April, the Genesis Prize Foundation, which awards what it calls the “Jewish Nobel,” announced it was canceling its prize ceremony in Israel in June after 2018 recipient Natalie Portman said she would not take part.

The Israeli-American actress later explained in an Instagram post that she was not willing to attend because “she did not want to appear as endorsing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”

“I treasure my Israeli friends and family, Israeli food, books, art, cinema, and dance ... But the mistreatment of those suffering from today’s atrocities is simply not in line with my Jewish values,” Portman pointed out.

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The apartheid nation-state law, adopted by 62 votes to 55 on July 19, makes Hebrew Israel’s official language and defines the establishment of settlements as being in the Tel Aviv regime’s interest.

The legislation also strips Arabic of its designation as an official language, downgrading it to a “special status” that enables its continued use within Israeli institutions.

It stipulates that “Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people and they have an exclusive right to national self-determination in it.” It also states that an undivided Jerusalem is the “capital” of Israel.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has condemned the Israeli law, saying it “will not change the historical situation of Jerusalem al-Quds as the capital of the occupied State of Palestine.”

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“No peace or security will prevail unless the city remains as such,” Palestinian Wafa news agency quoted Abbas as saying in a statement.

The statement added that "the law will not discourage Palestinians from their legitimate struggle to defeat the occupation and establish their independent state."

Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary General Saeb Erekat also took to Twitter to censure the law, saying the bill “officially legalizes apartheid and legally defines Israel as an apartheid system.”

“[It is] a dangerous and racist law par excellence. It denies the Arab citizens their right to self-determination to instead be determined by the Jewish population,” he said.

The Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement also denounced the law, saying it formally legalizes “Israeli racism” and constitutes “a dangerous attack on the Palestinian [nation] and its historic right to its land.”

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