JERUSALEM: Two key ministers have called for changes to a deeply controversial law declaring Israel the nation state of the Jewish people after a backlash and a court challenge from the Druze minority.
Opponents have called the law “racist” as it makes no mention of equality and Israel’s democratic character, implying that the country’s Jewish nature comes first.
Members of Israel’s 130,000-strong Druze community — many of whom willingly serve in the police and military — have been among those strongly denouncing the law.
Community leaders have filed a court challenge to the law, given final passage in the middle of the night on July 19. It becomes part of Israel’s so-called basic laws, a de facto constitution.
On Thursday, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon called for changes in response to the concerns of Druze, saying the law had been “passed in haste.”
“The last thing that we want is to harm the Druze community,” Kahlon, whose Kulanu party is the second largest in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, told army radio.
His comments followed similar ones on Wednesday by Education Minister Naftali Bennett of the religious nationalist Jewish Home party.
Bennett, who was a prominent advocate for the law, said he had now realized damage was done, adding that the Druze were “our brothers who stand shoulder to shoulder with us on the battlefield.”
“We, the government of Israel, have a responsibility to find a way to heal the rift,” he said.
Druze lawmakers were expected to meet Netanyahu, Kahlon and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on the issue later Thursday.
Druze leaders are also planning a demonstration against the law in central Tel Aviv on August 4.
The Druze are an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Officials say there are 110,000 of them in northern Israel and another 20,000 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The legislation makes Hebrew the country’s national language and defines the establishment of Jewish communities as being in the national interest.
Arabic, previously considered an official language, was granted only special status.
Arab Israelis have also denounced the law, saying it encourages discrimination and racism.
Arab citizens make up some 17.5 percent of Israel’s more than eight million population.
Israel ministers seek changes after Jewish nation law outcry
Israel ministers seek changes after Jewish nation law outcry
- Two key ministers have called for changes to a deeply controversial law declaring Israel the nation state of the Jewish people after a backlash and a court challenge from the Druze minority.
- Members of Israel’s 130,000-strong Druze community — many of whom willingly serve in the police and military — have been among those strongly denouncing the law.
Death toll in Iran protests over 3,000, rights group says
- The protests erupted on December 28 over economic hardship and swelled into widespread demonstrations calling for the end of clerical rule
- President Donald Trump, who had threatened ‘very strong action’ if Iran executed protesters, said Tehran’s leaders had called off mass hangings
DUBAI: More than 3,000 people have died in Iran’s nationwide protests, rights activists said on Saturday, while a “very slight rise” in Internet activity was reported in the country after an eight-day blackout.
The US-based HRANA group said it had verified 3,090 deaths, including 2,885 protesters, after residents said the crackdown appeared to have broadly quelled protests for now and state media reported more arrests.
The capital Tehran has been comparatively quiet for four days, said several residents reached by Reuters. Drones were flying over the city, but there were no signs of major protests on Thursday or Friday, said the residents, who asked not to be identified for their safety.
A resident of a northern city on the Caspian Sea said the streets there also appeared calm.
The protests erupted on December 28 over economic hardship and swelled into widespread demonstrations calling for the end of clerical rule in the Islamic Republic, culminating in mass violence late last week. According to opposition groups and an Iranian official, more than 2,000 people were killed in the worst domestic unrest since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
“Metrics show a very slight rise in Internet connectivity in #Iran this morning” after 200 hours of shutdown, the Internet monitoring group NetBlocks posted on X. Connectivity remained around 2 percent of ordinary levels, it said.
A few Iranians overseas said on social media that they had been able to message users living inside Iran early on Saturday.
US President Donald Trump, who had threatened “very strong action” if Iran executed protesters, said Tehran’s leaders had called off mass hangings.
“I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (Over 800 of them), have been canceled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!” he posted on social media.
Iran had not announced plans for such executions or said it had canceled them.
Indian students and pilgrims returning from Iran said they were largely confined to their accommodations while in the country, unable to communicate with their families back home.
“We only heard stories of violent protests, and one man jumped in front of our car holding a burning baton, shouting something in the local language, with anger visible in his eyes,” said Z Syeda, a third-year medical student at a university in Tehran.
India’s External Affairs Ministry said on Friday that commercial flights were available and that New Delhi would take steps to secure the safety and welfare of Indian nationals.
