Druze leads campaign against Jewish law

We don’t think it’s good for the Jewish people. It’s not good for the state of Israel Anwar Saeb, A former Israeli colonel

ahihud (israel) — Anwar Saeb spent two decades in the Israeli military, rising to the rank of colonel and suffering wounds in battle while serving as a brigade commander during the 2006 war in Lebanon.

Now, the 51-year-old lawyer, a member of Israel’s Arabic-speaking Druze community, finds himself on the front lines of a different and unlikely battle — leading a campaign against a contentious new law that sidelines minority groups.

Tens of thousands of Druze Israelis, along with Jewish supporters, thronged a Tel Aviv square on Saturday night in a rare demonstration against government policy by the typically muted community. Saeb and Amal Assad, a retired brigadier general, led the protest.

The Druze community is fiercely loyal to the state and well-integrated in society, yet its members feel betrayed by the new “Nation-State” law. “We don’t think it’s good for the Jewish people. It’s not good for the state of Israel,” he said in an interview.

Saeb said there was no conflict between his Israeli and Druze identities, likening it to the dual identity of American Jews. How would they feel, he asked, if the US passed a law stating the country was a Christian nation?

“We Druze decided before the foundation of the state (in 1948) to go with the Jews, and if the Jews bite the dust, we go down with them,” Saeb said. —