Feeling sidelined, Israel’s Druze protest Jewish nation bill

Tens of thousands of members of Israel’s Druze minority and their Jewish supporters, chanting “equality” have packed a central Tel Aviv Square to rally against a law that critics say sidelines Israel’s non-Jewish citizens.

Saturday night’s protest marked the first time in recent memory that the Druze — an offshoot of Shia Islam considered fiercely loyal to the state — have staged a large public protest.

Hundreds of brightly coloured Druze flags, rarely seen outside the community, fluttered in the square alongside Israel’s national banners.

The rally marked the biggest backlash yet against the Jewish nation-state law passed by the Knesset last month that enshrines Israel’s Jewish character and downgrades the standing of ­Arabic from an official to a “special” language. The law has outraged Israel’s Arabic-speaking minority which includes the Druze and makes up about 20 per cent of the population.

The Druze serve in the military, unlike most of the country’s Arab citizens, who overwhelmingly follow Sunni Islam and have close family ties with Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories.

Over the years, Druze have risen to prominence in the military and in politics.

Read the article in The Australian (AP).