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.
Somali president visits city claimed by breakaway region
MOGADISHU: Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Friday visited a provincial capital claimed by the breakaway region of Somaliland -- the first visit there by a sitting president in over 40 years.
The visit to Las Anod, the administrative capital of the Sool region, comes amid heightened diplomatic tensions in the Horn of Africa after Israel officially recognised Somaliland, drawing strong opposition from Mogadishu.
Mohamud was attending the inauguration of the president of the newly created Northeast State, which became Somalia's sixth federal state in August.
It was the first visit by a Somali president since 1984.
Somalia is a federation of semi-autonomous states, some of which have fraught relations with the central government in Mogadishu.
The Northeast State comprises the regions of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn, all territories Somaliland claims as integral to its borders.
Somaliland had controlled Las Anod since 2007 but was forced to withdraw in 2023 after violent clashes with Somali forces and pro-Mogadishu militias left scores dead.
Mohamud's visit "is a symbol of strengthening the unity and efforts of the federal government to enforce the territorial unity of the Somali country and its people", the Somali president's office said.
