KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 — DAP urged the international community today to pressure Israel to abolish its newly-passed legislation that essentially defines the country as a Jewish state.

DAP also claimed that the Israeli law — which defined Jerusalem, part of which is claimed by Palestinians as the capital of a future state, as the "complete and united...capital of Israel” — violated all United Nations conventions and international law that considered Israel’s annexation of east Jerusalem illegal.

"DAP, which has long upheld the principles of freedom, equality and kinship, will oppose all forms of oppression and racism, whether in Malaysia or anywhere in the world,” DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said today.

"Therefore, we call upon the international community to unite and to put pressure on Israel to abolish this draconian and racist law and to provide fair treatment to minorities in that country.”

The law passed by Israel’s parliament, called The Basic Law: Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People, describes Israel as "the national home of the Jewish people” and prioritises Hebrew above Arabic as the country’s official language.

Israeli Arabs reportedly comprise about 20 per cent of Israel’s nine million-strong population.