JERUSALEM — After a decade of political wrangling and hours of impassioned debate, Parliament on Thursday passed a contentious basic law that in effect enshrines Israel as the Jewish nation-state, a move hailed by supporters as “historic” and denounced by detractors as discriminatory, racist and a blow to democracy.

Though largely symbolic, the new nationality law omits any mention of democracy or enunciation of the principle of equality, in what critics called a betrayal of Israel’s foundational document, its Declaration of Independence.

Opponents say it will inevitably harm the delicate balance between the country’s Jewish majority and its Arab minority, which makes up about 21 percent of a population of nearly nine million.

The law pushed through just before the Knesset, or Parliament went into summer recess, had been advanced as a flagship measure of the most right-wing and religious governing coalition in Israel’s 70-year history. Members of the coalition applauded the passage.

“This is a defining moment in the annals of Zionism and the annals of the state of Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said soon after the vote early Thursday. “We have determined in law the founding principle of our existence. Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people, and respects the rights of all of its citizens.”

But moments after the vote, Arab members of Parliament ripped up copies of the bill while crying out, “Apartheid!” Ayman Odeh, the leader of the Joint List of predominantly Arab parties, which holds 13 seats and is the third-largest bloc in Parliament, waved a black flag in protest.

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