'Maybe your land should belong to Jews': Druze lawyer ponders sector's future in Israel

Despite being proud Israeli citizens and serving in the IDF for years, the Druze community is still segregated as just another minority, Druze lawyer and activist Anan Kheir told Sarah Ben-Nun on The Jerusalem Post Podcast. 

The Druze community in Israel has long considered itself Israeli and undergoes mandatory IDF service since 1956. The community, which lives mostly in Israel's North, has lived peacefully alongside its neighbors. However, it has often faced antagonism from radicals over their pride as Israeli citizens. 

"Whenever we have a war in Israel, we have these radicals, especially from the Muslim community, and... they put us in the same column as Jews," Kheir explained. "Some of them see it as betrayal. They say we're Palestinians, we're not Israeli... but the fact is, we're Israeli. We have Israeli passports."

He pointed out that the Druze "are the only minority" that fulfills citizens' obligations to the state, such as serving in the IDF or Sherut Leumi (national service). This is important, he said, because it's the only place where the Druze are seen as equals to Jewish Israelis. 

"We go as Israelis, not as Druze, and not as anything else," explained Kheir, who also works for the Druze Veterans Association. "The IDF is the only place in Israel where you don't have that separation. They know you're Druze, but at the end of the day, you're an IDF soldier. That's it." He added that the Druze actually hold the highest per capita number of soldiers serving in the IDF out of all Israeli demographics, with 83% of eligible Druze serving in the IDF, compared to 67% of Jews. 

What problems do the Druze in Israel face?

However, the Druze community in Israel also continues to face problems with the state, with Kheir singling out two major issues: the Nation-State Law and the Kaminitz Law. 

The Kaminitz Law deals with construction and is one that impacts the Druze community in the ground. 

"Basically, the Kaminitz Law says if you build a house and you don't have the necessary documentations or authorizations for that, even if you're building on your own land... the law says we [the state] can give you up to NIS 300,000 without needing to go to court. Someone... signs a paper, and they will send you a bill for NIS 300,000.

"So why do you build without a permit?" he continued. "Because for approximately 40-50 years, the Druze village areas did not expand." This is despite a natural increase in population, which requires more housing. Even expanding their own existing homes comes with issues.

"If you build another room in your house, you will be sent a fine of NIS 300,000," Kheir said. "Then you'll be given an order to dismantle the building."

The Kaminitz Law doesn't only apply to Druze Israelis, Kheir said, but explained that in other cases, the borders of cities and settlements are allowed to expand, but the Druze towns are not given that permission.

Then there is the Nation-State Law. 

"What the Nation-State Law did is separate, segregate, the people of Israel into two categories," Kheir said. "You're either Jewish or not Jewish." Those who live in Israel but aren't Jewish are "a minus," he explained, because "According to the Nation-State Law, supremacy belongs to the Jewish people."

The big danger is that the Nation-State Law is a Basic Law. As such, it changes how other laws can be interpreted, and that could have consequences in the future. 

Kheir gave a hypothetical example:

"In 40 years, if we had an extremist government, they might say that, okay, if I want to interpret the law in light of the Nation-State Law, they're Jewish... and you're a minus, so maybe your land should belong to Jews."

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