In Israel, coalition to advance basic law amendment recognizing Druze community

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition said [18 November] that it would advance legislation to enshrine the status of Israel’s Druze community, amid the climbing death toll among Druze soldiers in Israel’s war against Hamas and months after a peak in Druze backlash against discriminatory treatment by the state. Netanyahu and senior figures in his ruling Likud party threw weight [19 November] behind answering Druze community concerns, but stopped short of saying they would amend or repeal 2018’s controversial Basic Law: Nation-State of the Jewish People, which the community has slammed as marginalizing it. [...] Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and coalition whip Ofir Katz, both of Likud, issued a statement Saturday evening, saying: “In the coming days, we will promote a draft Basic Law for the Druze community, which aims to anchor the important status of the Druze community in the State of Israel.” Netanyahu, responding to reporters’ questions about whether he would accede to Druze community demands to amend the nation-state law, said: “The Druze are a valued community, they fight, they fall, we will give them everything they deserve. We’ll find the ways to do this, it’s essential.”
Read the full article here: The Times of Israel