New law tries loyalty of Israel’s ‘model minority’
THE meeting at the Israeli defence ministry was tense.
Sitting across the table from Benjamin Netanyahu were leaders of Israel’s Druze community, an Arabic speaking group of around 150,000 known as Israel’s most loyal minority.
The Druze sheikhs and former army officers had come to discuss a divisive nationality law pushed through by Mr Netanyahu’s government.
But when the talk turned to a comment one of the Druze had made about Israel becoming an “apartheid state”, the prime minister reportedly walked out in anger.
The aborted meeting on Thursday was just one flare-up amid tensions between the Israeli government and the Druze.
Tens of thousands of Druze and their supporters rallied in central Tel Aviv on Saturday to protest against the new law that they say makes them second-class citizens.
Holding colourful Druze flags alongside Israeli ones, the crowd, estimated by local media at more than 50,000, chanted “equality”.
Unlike most of Israel’s 1.5 million Arab citizens, many reluctant to be called Israelis, the Druze are deeply devoted to the Jewish state.
Druze soldiers are among Israel’s fiercest fighters and many of them serve in elite combat units alongside Jewish troops. There are Druze MPS in many of Israel’s main political parties and Druze ministers in the government.
The Druze are sometimes called Israel’s “model minority” for their loyalty and civic enthusiasm. Israeli leaders refer to the “blood pact” between the Jewish and Druze people, their fates intertwined as they struggle together for Israel’s future.
That pact is now under severe strain in the wake of the nationality law passed by Mr Netanyahu’s government in July. It states that only Jews have the right to “national selfdetermination” in Israel, and downgrades Arabic so it is no longer an official state language.
The government argues that the law simply codifies what everyone already knew – that Israel is a Jewish state as well as a democratic one – and that it does nothing to discriminate against minorities.
Mr Netanyahu yesterday defended the law, saying it would help prevent Palestinians and illegal migrants from seeking Israeli citizenship.
“The Nation-state Law prevents, for example, the exploitation of the family reunification clause under which very, very many Palestinians have been absorbed into the country,” he said at the start of a cabinet meeting.
“It could be that this law will also be able to assist us in blocking the future entry of labour migrants.”
He added: “The state of Israel is the national state of the Jewish people. Israel is a Jewish and democratic state. Individual rights are anchored in many laws.”
Many Druze have been left feeling shocked and hurt by the bill, and two Druze army officers have resigned in frustration.
“The Druze community has contributed a lot to the state of Israel, even our blood and our young men,” Saleh Saad, a Druze Labour Party MP, told The Daily Telegraph. “We feel betrayed; we feel that they are spitting in our faces.”
Mr Saad is suing the government in the supreme court in the hope of getting the law overturned.
On the streets of Daliyat el-karmel, the main Druze town in northern Israel, residents said they were dismayed by the nationality law.
Youssef Halabi, a 69-year-old who served four years in an Israeli commando unit, stood outside his textile shop wearing a colourful traditional Druze hat and black pantaloons. “There are many good things about this country,” Mr Halabi said. “You have free speech, you elect your leaders, you have freedom of worship.
“But this is a racist law. The two missing words are ‘equality’ and ‘democracy.’”
The law’s passage has brought to the surface long-standing grievances that the Druze community had kept fairly quiet about.
Residents said their communities consistently got less money for infrastructure and education than nearby Jewish towns.
Sima Basha, a 45-year-old dress shop owner, sent both her sons to Jewish schools and said her eldest boy dreamed of serving in the Sayeret Matkal, the special forces unit Mr Netanyahu once fought in.
“If Netanyahu doesn’t change the law why should we send our kids to the army?” Mrs Basha asked.
“If we’re not equals, why should we give him our sons to throw into Gaza?”
Mr Netanyahu mostly ignored protests against the law from Israel’s wider Arab population but he appears to have been stung by the Druze criticism. So far, he has offered to pass a supplementary law recognising the contribution of the Druze, especially those who served in the military.
Some Druze leaders seem placated, while others are holding out for a full repeal of the nationality law or at least significant amendments.
Monif Hasson, a Druze military veteran who now works in the prison service, said he was hurt by the law.
But there was some solace in the outpouring of support he had received from Jewish friends, colleagues and former army comrades.
He said: “I can show you my phone, there are so many messages from Jews saying, ‘I support you, bro.’ The people know this law is wrong. It’s the government that forces it.”
♦isil has executed one of dozens of Druze hostages, mostly women and children, abducted from Syria’s southern province of Sweida last week, it was reported yesterday.
The jihadist group is thought to have killed the 19-year-old male student on Thursday. His family received two videos, one showing him being beheaded.
However, the footage could not be independently verified. Isil has not claimed the kidnappings and did not publish the video on its usual channels.
‘If we are not equals, why should we give our sons to Netanyahu to throw into Gaza?’