Opinion | Language is much more than words Israel today

Recently, some Jewish Knesset members were outraged at their Arab colleagues for speaking in the Knesset plenum in Arabic.

The use of the Arabic language in the Knesset should not be ruled out, but, according to them, the outrage was against the background of the fact that those Jewish Knesset members simply did not understand what was being said.

If they were fluent in Arabic - everything would look different.

Disclosure: I speak Arabic at the mother tongue level, and also use it in my media appearances. The case in the Knesset again raises the issue of whether Hebrew should be the only official language in Israel. There are countries in the world where there is one official language and those that have more, and each has disadvantages and advantages, depending on its ethnic and political structure. As someone who has spent several years in countries that belong to both categories, I believe that one official language is preferable and creates fewer problems.

In Israel, the Arab minority constitutes about one-fifth of the population, as does the Arab minority in France. The French minority in Canada also makes up 20 percent of the population. France has one official language, which every immigrant is required to learn. Parliament speaks in French regardless of the ethnicity or religion of the speakers, and France's official representatives, like its ambassadors around the world, are required by law to speak only in French, otherwise they will be subject to punishment. These facts have nothing to do with providing functional and ad hoc assistance, such as translating forms, so that all citizens understand what they are signing. The binding wording is at the end - the French.

Canada, which chose to approach the French minority out of multiculturalism and consideration, gave French the status of an official language on the same level as English.

The troubles were not long in coming.

The French language was and still is a source of nationalist longing, and the urge to fulfill the dream that once French speakers would be independent and cut off from Canada.

In places like the French province of Quebec, for example, where once only English was spoken, French is now heard most often, and English is not taught there at all.

In 2005, while serving in the UN institutions in Geneva, I received a message from the Human Rights Commission that a delegation of Bedouins had arrived from Israel with a request to help the Bedouin in the Negev achieve national autonomy. Arabic, unlike the rest of the population, hence their uniqueness.The committee refused to help, after we explained to her that the Bedouin are equal citizens in every way.

This experience can be repeated.

I am in favor of teaching our children Arabic in schools, I am in favor of cultural life in Arabic.

But between that and an official language that everyone is committed to - the distance is great.

One official language - in the Knesset, state institutions, the media and other official bodies - prevents future problems and curbs nationalist, or even separatist, tendencies of one minority or another. 

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