this is the w. news line from israel passes a new law that critics say legalizes discrimination are of israeli lawmakers protesting against a statute that defines israel as a jewish nation state downgrades the arabic language and says only the country's jews are entitled to national self-determination also on the program. and was invisible children hold some of us rights during the conflicts of the early one nine hundred ninety s. no one wants to acknowledge them but now they're fighting to be seen and heard.

i feel gal welcome to the program israel's parliament has passed a controversial law that defines the country as the national homeland of the jewish people it also makes hebrew the country's only official language downgrading arabic to special status and goes on to say that only the country's jews have the right to exercise national self-determination prime minister benjamin netanyahu described the vote as a defining moment in the history of zionism critics say the law is racist and discriminates very. protests in parliament against a law that is tearing up relations between jewish and arab israelis arab politicians were rejected as they spoke against the law which gives jews the unique right of national self-determination it passed with a narrow majority but prime minister benjamin netanyahu described it as an historic

day. zero this is a defining moment in the annals of zionism and the history of the state of israel. the law in shrines the national flag anthem and holidays it declares jerusalem as israel's capital and supports the development of jewish communities she brew is now the country's only official language arabic downgraded to a so-called special status arab lawmakers said the measures verge towards apartheid their nationality bill is a hate crime they are discriminating against the arab citizens against down of minority with the racist africans especially those over jewish settlements and those articles downgrading there are big the status of the arabic language around twenty percent of israelis are of arab ethnicity some say they feel

treated as second class citizens observers say the law undermines democracy in israel. this basic law is clearly not given the same level of equality and these actually designed to supersede the laws that we already had this is very problematic i think it will minimize. the rights for minorities and minorities in israel might feel alienated and probably rightly so because the law. is making israel more jewish let them across opponents are likely to challenge the law before israel's supreme court. t w spoke to eldar political columnist for the al monitor middle east media website is what he had to say. you know there is an inherent kind of paradox between

the jewish character that. israel wants to keep and the democratic fashion of these really establishment and the israeli social life. and. this is a very interesting challenge and it's a very delicate. kind of walking on that very thin rope between the two that look production we have for instance the low off return that allows any jew that never visited israel doesn't know anything about jewish history to become an israeli citizen and vote in the elections while if you are a palestinian that lived here for many years but you left the country and you lived in berlin or in the united states in new york you will not be eligible to even to

get a visa to israel but you know since we want to be boast israelis and jewish there is we need that the israeli minority which is the arab minority which is twenty percent of the population will feel comfortable and i want them it's my interest that they will feel comfortable here and that they we can say i am an israeli and they're israelis and we both live in democracy and you know i studied arabic and i'm very proud of that but my children and right grandchildren don't know a word in arabic and this is a great pity because you know when you have twenty percent of different it's not a minority it's a substantial number of israeli citizens that need to feel comfortable that they're at home. akiva. bosnia-herzegovina known as the invisible children conceived to an enemy fox is right that mothers

join the bosnian war of the ninety's many find themselves stigmatized by society and overlooked by government now in their mid twenty's off icing for their rights this exclusive report of the bosnian capital sorry i have. twenty four year old i know usage was conceived when a crow at soldier raped her mother during the war in bosnia growing up after the conflict without a father surname was enough to mark as an outcast. children born of war aren't recognized as victims of war in bosnia and that often leads to discrimination. and i just see a program of the most common problem these kids face during their upbringing is with documents. that's because their documents have names missing on them so these kids have problems and they want to start university. now i know is

publicly defying social stigmas and challenging bureaucratic barriers she co-founded the forgotten children of war bosnia's first ngo linking children of rape so they can lobby together for recognition. twenty five years after the war our goal is to let these children come out and let both the bosnian state and society know that we exist so that we get legally recognized by the government. i mean as n g o for war children is itself in its infancy across bosnia fifteen members have joined so far but founders are searching for more allen movie was conceived want to serve soldier rape his mother in one thousand nine hundred three these children born of ethnic cleansing are now working together to break lingering ethnic barriers. long before i

met anya i knew there were more of us. there was only a matter of time until we finally met at a table and shared our stories and experiences. it's not known how many children of war there are in bosnia today some estimate that twenty thousand women were raped during the conflict and that around four thousand of them had children as a result. many rape survivors kept the assaults and their children's paternity a secret women like alaina. proceed to consider after my child was born i hate her because i was afraid. i thought someone would take her away or attack or kill her. alina who asked to speak anonymously was twenty three when an enemy soldier raped her she didn't tell her daughter but she learned the truth from her mother's police

report that she discovered by chance. i know i know to think of you since she found days when she was conceived my daughter has been driven by raich rage against society of rage because she is an outcast they swept us under the rug as if none of us has ever happened they denied it when we showed ourselves they only talked about us when they needed something like our votes when there are elections. by asserting themselves publicly bosnia's invisible children can become a symbol of progress for the country a bridge towards ethnic reconciliation as a side will progress but if ignored these young men and women can become another symbol of a society stuck in a cycle of post-war divisions and zero sum ethnic politics. but for now voices like i know as are the only ones breaking the silence about bosnia's invisible children. if the state doesn't want to talk about it somebody needs to

that's why i feel responsible if i've started something i need to see it through to the end it's the only way to finally achieve peace after all that's happened. to me . a talent god ecologist monica hauser found at the german organization medical mondiale for female victims of violence and conflict she joins us from our studios in bonn welcome what what effect does this sort of discovery have on children finding out that they were conceived through violence. these children have many many problems of course also because they get us to a size of ystem us us but i really have to say i'm impressed by i not and by her colleagues who are so correct to speak about what happened today and what happened to them other mothers and i think it's so important that both in society is

supporting them that the international community is supporting the boss in. vehement organization that they really can go on because for example also awareness raising in boston society and it's the responsibility of all of us that they go on based there are really strong activities what about the it's a tricky decision should women in this situation tell their children it's really a tricky decision and never never never easy because at the end the mother has to deal with it and many months or so we cared for in ninety three ninety four in the open station maybe because and it's a. it was very difficult for them to decide about this very difficult question but they need support and i think that's why such

a women's organization are so important and i really hope that the symbol and power of such young people can also give a message to international organizations much more to support such activities to empower young people and what do you make of the response of the boss you know authorities who seem to not want to know. the horn society does not want to know and and also of course the politicians but we have to see deposing her sick over not such a fragment tainted country and the responsibility again goes to international community too who has made such of wrong peace agreement and. supports these political and ethnic cuz division but nevertheless we have people in the whole country who are corrections and who do not to let them divide it from each other and then be have to support and i think cause it

a responsibility goes to the european union who has promised india conference in taste underneath king two thousand and three we really should not forget that to support the whole country economic support in order to have a new future but this promise has been left and therefore i think there is a lot to do or so for international community to support and to take responsibility but so you're saying with the national government what government officials say that perhaps this is a problem that belongs in the past and we are trying to build the countries what would you say again yes again everybody in boston tries to forget the bollard and doesn't want to be remembered today what happened during divorce this is a problem for the ones who cannot forget the back to perpetrate this because they look in the faces of the children day by day so i think it's really a task for a whole community for

a whole society to berks through and to remember and these children who speak out about protecting to them of course remember this is the end of course also the boston i'm sorry to say if you're a big task i'm happy that since two thousand and six we have these laws of preparation are safavi men who got raped during the war in order to get the pension off two hundred. fifty euro round and to get material and psychological support but . practical implementation of this law still is very very difficult so i think the bus and or sorry t's have to go a step further now and i think these young people are really a symbol and to remember to hold society to to go on the first step and i think it really be very important for the healing of this country not to forget about these people and to look to dow own trauma monica hauser from the medical among to

her thank you so much for joining us thank you i set you up to date i have most here at the top of the hour and there is of course always a voice on the website that's coming out of the to. make your smart. smart. or smart. what you want when you want to. update. its story. you decide what's a. sign no more w dot com smart.