Likud MK advances bill to give Druze, Circassians special status

Likud MK Ariel Kelner has begun to advance the Basic Law: Covenant of Life, which affords special status to Israel’s Druze and Circassian communities.

The new bill is being legislated as a response to the heavy criticism voiced against the Nation-State Law, which is the only legal document that identifies Israel as the Jewish nation-state. This basic law was criticized for its failure to include a clause that ensures equal rights for Israel’s non-Jewish citizens.

Especially upset at the Nation-State Law are the Druze and Bedouin sectors, as most of their young men serve in the IDF, as do Israel’s Jewish citizens, but are not guaranteed equality in the law.

What is the remedy?

While some MKs seek to remedy the situation by amending the Nation-State Law to include equal rights for all sectors of Israeli society and to classify Arabic as an official language in Israel, others believe the remedy is in a separate law that affords them special status.

Kelner’s bill identifies the “Covenant of Life” as “the special connection between the State of Israel – the Jewish nation-state – and its Druze and Circassian citizens who have tied their fate with that of the Jewish people.”

Also, according to the bill, Israel recognizes the members of these sectors as “unique denominations” who take part in building and protecting the country.

“The state recognizes the linguistic, cultural, and religious characteristics of the Druze and Circassian denominations, their holy places, and their holidays, and will assist in preserving them,” the bill continues. “The state will work to commemorate the Druze and Circassian citizens who significantly contributed to the nation, as well as all their citizens who gave their lives for the country.”

The bill explains how these two sectors have assisted Jews and contributed to the establishment and protection of Israel in the last century.

A fate tied with the Jewish people

“The Israeli Druze citizens, as a denomination and not as individuals, tied their fate to the fate of the Jewish people in their own land and recognized the State of Israel as the Jewish nation-state,” the bill notes. “Even before the establishment of Israel, the Druze took part in building the country, and after its establishment, they saw themselves as an integral part of it.”

The bill makes no mention of Bedouins and other non-Jewish minorities.

Israel’s only Druze MK, Hamad Amar (Israel Beytenu), criticized the bill’s failure to include a promise of equal rights, saying that a wrong cannot be righted by a futile law.

“The law being advanced in the Likud is worse than the Nation-State Law that favors certain sectors and sets the Druze as second-rate citizens,” he said. “We are citizens of our country who do our duty to the country. We are part of the State of Israel and fight for it as soon as we’re ordered to.”

Amar went on to call the bill a joke, saying that he was strongly opposed to it as it continues to deny the Druze any promise of equality.