Netanyahu to Druze: You are an organic part of Israeli society

Amid criticism over ‘Jewish state’ bill, PM tells leaders of community Israel will defend their rights, security

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Druze community leaders on Wednesday and expressed condolences on the recent deaths of two Druze police officers in recent terror attacks

Netanyahu on Wednesday evening offered his condolences on the deaths of Police Master Sergeant Zidan Saif, who was killed in the terror attack on a Jerusalem synagogue November 18, and of Border Police Chief Inspector Jedan Assad, killed earlier this month when a Palestinian terrorist drove his car into a crowd of people at a light rail station in Jerusalem.

“You are our very flesh. You are an organic part of Israeli society. Your heroic policemen and soldiers have fallen in order to defend the state and all its citizens, but we will defend your rights and your security,” Netanyahu told the Druze leaders.

“There is a deep emotional commitment here that found expression in the crowds who came to the funeral. This emotionally underscored what Israeli citizens feel and what I feel,” he said.

“This is our fight against radical Islam,” he added.

Netanyahu’s remarks came amid widespread international and local criticism over the controversial “Jewish law” bill which seeks to enshrine Israel’s status as a Jewish state with equal rights for all the country’s citizens. The bill, which currently has several versions, has been blasted for elevating Israel’s ‘Jewishness’ over democracy in some of the drafts. Opponents argue that it alienates the country’s non-Jewish citizens, including the Druze and Arab communities.

Zidan Saif, the fifth victim of a terror attack at a synagogue in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof. on November 18, 2014 (photo credit: courtesy)

The prime minister has remained adamant about pushing the bill forward.

“Israel is a democratic state, as it was and always will be,” Netanyahu said during a press conference with Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka in Jerusalem on Wednesday. “I don’t know a country that is more democratic, or a more vibrant democracy than Israel in the world, certainly not in our region. What is being challenged today is Israel’s existence as the nation-state of Jewish people, and therefore we will anchor in the law this national right of the Jewish people alongside a guarantee of individual rights for all its citizens.”