Guttural R
Many Jewish immigrants to Israel spoke a variety of Arabic in their countries of origin and pronounced the Hebrew rhotic as an alveolar tap , similar to Arabic '. Gradually, many of them began pronouncing their Hebrew rhotic as a voiced uvular fricative , a sound similar or (depending on the Arabic dialect) identical to Arabic '. However, in modern Sephardic and Mizrahi poetry and folk music an alveolar rhotic continues to be used.
List of countries where Arabic is an official language
Arabic was an official language of Mandatory Palestine and was retained as an official language when the State of Israel was founded in 1948. In 2018, the Knesset upgraded the status of Hebrew from official to State language of Israel, and gave Arabic a special status in the State by adopting the relevant Basic Law. The (an Israeli Basic Law which specifies the nature of the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish People) states in No. 4 (B) that ""The Arabic language has a special status in the state; Regulating the use of Arabic in state institutions or by them will be set in law."" The law declares in No. 4 (C): ""This clause does not harm the status given to the Arabic language before this law came into effect."" The law was adopted by the Knesset 62 in favor, 55 against and two abstentions on 19 July 2018.