Separation of religion and state

The Israeli government's decision to make new citizens announce their loyalty to Israel as a Jewish State is a populist agenda of the hardliners. The amendment to the Citizenship Act, which will require all non-Jews who wish to become Israeli citizens to pledge allegiance to a "Jewish and democratic" Israel, is a move in part of a series of actions which create an atmosphere of segregation. Since many new citizens will come from Arab countries in the context of family unification, they should be asked precisely to declare that Israel is legitimate.
Many countries, including the USA have a pledge of allegiance; however they are not based on religion. Americans are not required to pledge loyalty to the USA as a Christian state. In fact, nowhere in the United States Constitution is there a single mention of Christianity, God, Jesus, or any Supreme Being.
The Israeli government's continuance of barring Israeli citizens and their Palestinian spouses from the Occupied Palestinian Territories from living together in Israel constitutes unlawful discrimination that cannot be justified by the country's security interests according to international human rights organisations. The government enacted the law that discriminates against Palestinian citizens and permanent residents of Israel on the basis of their ethnic or national origin. Palestinian citizens of Israel constitute the vast majority of Israelis who are married to Palestinians from the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
It unfairly targets Israeli citizens of Palestinian origin. It undermines the rights of thousands of Israelis to live together with their families, and the rights of certain Israeli children to live with both parents. The law denies spouses from the Occupied Palestinian Territories who are married to Israeli citizens or permanent residents the opportunity to acquire Israeli citizenship or residency rights. Normally, foreign nationals married to Israeli citizens undergo a graduated process of residency statuses, with security checks along the way, before ultimately being considered for citizenship after a minimum of four years. If the foreign spouse is Jewish (or the child or grandchild of a Jew), Israeli citizenship is granted automatically.
The Israeli government is on a roll to undermine the international community, starting with the flotilla incident, the continuance of the settlement undermining the Obama administration, and now passing a law to require the oath of allegiance from its Arab citizens. The Israeli government is answerable to all citizens and it's immoral to create the awareness that they are not part of the state on one hand, and demand loyalty on the other -- that's a contradiction.
The new amendment will damage Israel's international standing and will be viewed as racist. Countries that have their principles based on religious fanaticism are unbalanced. Time and again this has been proven in history. That is why modern states are secular. Why Israel wants to revert back to the middle-ages and become a right wing encouraged religious fanatic country, based on an aggressive desire to expand is beyond logic. If the pledge of loyalty was based on something similar to "in God we Trust," as imprinted in the United States currency, personally I don't think there would be an issue since Islam teaches that God as referenced in the Qur'an is the only God and the same God worshipped by members of other Abrahamic religions such as Christianity and Judaism.

Muhammad A. Azim is Deputy Managing Editor, The Daily Star, and a former senior executive of Deloiite USA and Citigroup N.A.