Politics and Knesset
The Israel Defense Forces “provides equal opportunity, regardless of where you come from, and will continue to integrate soldiers from various ethnic groups,” Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot tells Druze and Bedouin leaders amid backlash over recently enacted nation-state law.
“I was present when it was laid, I don’t think I was actually involved in it. I was there because I wanted to see a fitting memorial to everyone who has died in every terrorist incident everywhere,” Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said in an interview with Sky News.
The declaration by Christians United for Israel comes amid three Jewish newspapers in the United Kingdom accusing Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn of being an “existential threat” to British Jewry.
Anu, a nonprofit group supported by the New Israel Fund and the driving force behind the prolonged anti-corruption campaign targeting Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, is also linked to the anti-nation-state law campaign.
“Most of the Druze don’t even care about the nation-state law. But there are these people who make sure to push the young people to protest. The people behind this are not part of the Druze community. They are radical left-wing activists.”
The plan was presented by Netanyahu’s acting chief of staff, Yoav Horowitz, to Druze community representatives led by spiritual head Sheikh Muafak Tarif at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem.
Judges urged the state to find a more amenable solution for residents, at which point the state offered to erect Bedouin tents for residents at the government’s expense, and connect them to water and electricity.
The Church seemed to take particular issue with the lack of mention of Arab Israelis—only referring to “Palestinian citizens of Israel”—saying they “are flagrantly excluded from the law.”
A new poll by the Walla news website shows that most Israelis support the Nationality Law, with 58 percent agreeing with the current language and 34 percent opposed to it.
Despite criticism slamming the law as anti-minority and racist, chairman of the Druze Zionist Council supports it, saying Israel is the best country for Druze.
Government rushes to mollify Druze community after leaders file a petition against the law, calling it an “extreme act of discrimination” against minorities in Israel.
“It is astounding that this should be an issue at all,” said Sarah N. Stern, founder and president of the Endowment for Middle East Truth.
