Languages of Israel

The Israeli population is linguistically and culturally diverse. Hebrew is the country's official language, and almost the entire population speaks it either as native speakers or proficiently as a second language. Its standard form, known as Modern Hebrew, is the main medium of life in Israel. Arabic is used mainly by Israel's Arab minority which comprises about one-fifth of the population. Arabic has a special status under Israeli law.

Russian is spoken by about 20% of the Israeli population, mainly by the large immigrant population from the former Soviet Union, and English is a known foreign language by a significant proportion of the Israeli population as English is used widely in official logos and road signs alongside Hebrew and Arabic. In addition, the 19th edition of Ethnologue lists 36 languages and dialects spoken through Israel.

According to a 2011 Government Social Survey of Israelis over 20 years of age, 49% report Hebrew as their native language, Arabic 18%, Russian 15%, Yiddish 2%, French 2%, English 2%, 1.6% Spanish, and 10% other languages (including Romanian, German and Amharic, which were not offered as answers by the survey). This study also noted that 90% of Israeli Jews and over 60% of Israeli Arabs have a good understanding of Hebrew.

History

Several laws determine the official status of languages and language policy in Israel. This confusing situation has led to several appeals to the Supreme Court, whose rulings have enforced the current policies of national and local authorities.

On 19 July 2018, the Knesset passed a basic law under the title Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People, which defines Hebrew as "the State's language" and Arabic as a language with "a special status in the State" (article 4). The law further says that it should not be interpreted as compromising the status of the Arabic language in practice prior to the enactment of the basic law, namely, it preserves the status quo and changes the status of Hebrew and Arabic only nominally.

Before the enactment of the aforementioned basic law, the status of official language in Israel was determined by the 82nd paragraph of the Constitution of Mandatory Palestine, which was promulgated by an Order in Council of the British Crown o
14 August 1922
as amended in 1939:

:"All Ordinances, official notices and official forms of the Government and all official notices of local authorities and municipalities in areas to be prescribed by order of the High Commissioner, shall be published in English, Arabic and Hebrew."
This law, like most other laws of the British Mandate, was adopted in the State of Israel, subject to certain amendments published by the Provisional State Council on 19 May 1948. The amendment states that:
:"Any provision in the law requiring the use of the English language is repealed."

Apart from Hebrew, Arabic and English, the use of Russian dramatically increased with massive arrivals of Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union. Today, Russian TV channels and media are widely available alongside Hebrew and Arabic media.

Initially French was used as a diplomatic language in Israel, and was also used alongside Hebrew on official documents such as passports until the 1990s, even though most state officials and civil servants were more fluent in English. However, the Israeli-French alliance unraveled in the runup to the 1967 Six-Day War, leading to decreased use of French. Israeli passports switched from French to English during the 1990s.

Official language

Hebrew

The British Mandate articles, issued by the Council of the League of Nations in 1922, and the 1922 Palestine Order in Council were the first in modern times to acknowledge Hebrew as an official language of a political entity. This was a significant achievement for the Zionist movement, which sought to establish Hebrew as the national language of the Jewish people and discouraged the use of other Jewish languages, particularly Yiddish, just like Aramaic replaced Hebrew in ancient times.

The movement for the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language was particularly popular among new Jewish Zionist immigrants who came to Ottoman ruled Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem beginning in the 1880s. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (born in the Russian Empire) and his followers created the first Hebrew-speaking schools, newspapers, and other Hebrew-language institutions. Max Weinreich notes in his book, ''History of the Yiddish Language'', Volume 1, the "very making of Hebrew into a spoken language derives from the will to separate from the Diaspora". After Ben Yehuda's immigration to Israel, and due to the impetus of the Second Aliyah (1905–1914), Hebrew prevailed as the single official and spoken language of the Jewish community of Mandatory Palestine. When the State of Israel was formed in 1948, the government viewed Hebrew as the ''de facto'' official language and initiated a melting pot policy, where every immigrant was required to study Hebrew and often to adopt a Hebrew surname. Use of Yiddish, which was the main competitor prior to World War II, was discouraged, and the number of Yiddish speakers declined as the older generations died out. However, Yiddish is still often used in Ashkenazi Haredi communities worldwide, and is sometimes the first language for the members of the Hasidic branches of such communities.

Today, Hebrew is the official language used in government, commerce, court sessions, schools, and universities. It is the language most commonly used in everyday life in Israel. Native Hebrew speakers comprise about 53% of the population. The vast majority of the rest speak Hebrew fluently as a second language. Native-born Israeli Jews are typically native speakers of Hebrew, but a significant minority of Israelis are immigrants who learned Hebrew as a second language. Immigrants who come under the Law of Return are entitled to a free course in an ulpan, or Hebrew language school. Most of them speak fluent Hebrew, but some do not. Most Israeli-Arabs, who comprise a large national minority, and members of other minorities are also fluent in Hebrew. Historically, Hebrew was taught in Arab schools from the third grade onward, but it has been gradually introduced from kindergarten onward starting in September 2015. A Hebrew exam is an essential part of the matriculation exams for students of Israeli schools. The state-affiliated Academy of the Hebrew Language, established in 1953 by a Knesset law, is tasked with researching the Hebrew language and offering standardized rules for the use of the language by the state.

A survey by the Central Bureau of Statistics released in 2013 found that 90% of Israeli Jews were proficient in Hebrew and 70% were highly proficient. It also found that 60% of Israeli Arabs were proficient or highly proficient in Hebrew, while 17% could not read it and 12% could not speak it.

Other languages

Arabic

Literary Arabic, along with Hebrew, has special status under Israeli law. Various spoken dialects are used, and Arabic is the native language among Israeli-Arabs. In 1949, there were 156,000 Arabs in Israel, most of whom did not speak Hebrew. Today, the figure stands at about 1.6 million, and although most are proficient in Hebrew, Arabic remains their primary native language.

In addition, a significant number of Israeli Jews know spoken Arabic, although only a very small number are fully literate in written Arabic. Arabic is the native language of older generations of those Mizrahi Jews who immigrated from Arabic-speaking countries. Arabic lessons are widespread in Hebrew-speaking schools from the seventh through ninth grades. Those who wish to do so may opt to continue their Arabic studies through the twelfth grade and take an Arabic matriculation exam. A 2015 study found that 17% of Israeli Jews can understand Arabic and 10% can speak it fluently, but only 2.5% can read an article in the language, 1.5% can write a letter in it, and 1% can read a book in it.

For many years, the Israeli authorities were reluctant to use Arabic, except when explicitly ordered by law (for example, in warnings on dangerous chemicals), or when addressing the Arabic-speaking population. This has changed following a November 2000 supreme court ruling which ruled that although second to Hebrew, the use of Arabic should be much more extensive. Since then, all road signs, food labels, and messages published or posted by the government must also be translated into Literary Arabic, unless being issued by the local authority of an exclusively Hebrew-speaking community. As of December 2017, 40% of digital panels on public buses list their routes in both Hebrew and Arabic across the country, and, starting in 2015, Arabic has been increasingly featured in signs along highways and in railway stations.

Arabic was always considered a legitimate language for use in the Knesset alongside Hebrew, but only rarely have Arabic-speaking Knesset members made use of this privilege as while all Arabic-speaking MKs are fluent in Hebrew, fewer Hebrew-speaking MKs can understand Arabic.

In March 2007, the Knesset approved a new law calling for the establishment of an Arabic Language Academy similar to the Academy of the Hebrew Language. This institute was established in 2008, its centre is in Haifa and it is currently headed by Prof. Mahmud Ghanayem.

In 2008, a group of Knesset members proposed a bill to remove Arabic's status as an official language, making it an "official secondary language". That bill did not pass.

In 2009, Israel Katz, the transport minister, suggested that signs on all major roads in Israel, East Jerusalem and possibly parts of the West Bank would be amended, replacing English and Arabic place names with straight transliterations of the Hebrew name. Currently most road signs are in all three languages. Nazareth, for example, would become "Natzeret". The Transport Ministry said signs would be replaced gradually as necessary due to wear and tear. This has been criticized as an attempt to erase the Arabic language and Palestinian heritage in Israel.BBC
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