Justice minister squares off with Druze protesters over nation-state law

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked on Friday rejected calls to change legislation defining Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people that has been labeled discriminatory by minority groups.

The law has prompted particular outrage from Israel’s Druze minority, whose members — many of whom serve in the Israeli army — say the law’s provisions render them second-class citizens.

Shaked was speaking outside her house in Tel Aviv with demonstrators from the Druze minority, who have been traveling to the homes of political leaders in a bid to gain support for overhauling the law.

“The nation-state law defines the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people and on this there is no disagreement between us. We’re also not divided on the fact that there is full civil equality,” she said.

Despite vowing the law will not be changed, Shaked acknowledged it had created a “wound” among the Druze.

“In order to heal we can advance separate legislation,” she said.

Brig. Gen. (res.) Amal As’ad, a leader of the Druze protests against the law, reiterated his opposition to a separate law pertaining to his community.

“We came to say that we want to feel part of this state,” he said. “I want to be Israeli, and we are thus very disappointed and will do everything so this law will be changed.”

The meeting between Shaked and the protesters grew contentious at times, with a number of demonstrators accusing her of being unaffected by their complaints.

“If this didn’t move me I wouldn’t make an effort on a Friday to come and speak with you,” she said.

The demonstrators later went to the home of Hatnua party leader Tzipi Livni, who has been a vocal critic of the nation-state law and called for replacing it with the text of the Declaration of Independence.

“Anyone who is ashamed to say the word ‘equality’ during this election campaign, whoever claims the Declaration of Independence is suddenly far-left, whoever tries to divide… we’ll prove him otherwise,” Livni said.

Earlier this week, demonstrators arrived at the homes of the leaders of the Yesh Atid and Israel Resilience parties, both of whom vowed they would change the law.

Benny Gantz, a former IDF chief and head of Israel Resilience, told Druze activists outside his home in Rosh Ha’ayin that Israel should work to strengthen the bonds with its Druze community, which he said was a valued segment of Israeli society.

“I will do everything in my power to fix the law,” he said to the activists, who are part of a nationwide tour meant to raise awareness of Druze opposition to the law ahead of a High Court hearing on the legislation later this month.

The nation-state law enshrines Israel as “the national home of the Jewish people” and says “the right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.” It also defines Arabic as a language with a “special” status, effectively downgrading it from its de facto status as a second official language, though it cryptically stipulates that “this clause does not harm the status given to the Arabic language before this law came into effect.”

The Netanyahu government says the new law merely enshrines the country’s existing character, and that Israel’s democratic nature and provisions for equality are already anchored in existing quasi-constitutional legislation. But critics, both in Israel and abroad, say it undermines Israel’s commitment to equality for all its citizens.

Raoul Wootliff contributed to this report.