Chief Rabbi of Israel Dovid Lau visited the Druze community of Yarcha, where he spoke out against the controversial Nationality Law, which enshrines Israel’s status as the democratic Jewish homeland for the Jewish People. In his comments, Rav Lau said, “The law should be amended out of concern of discriminating against this most important kehilla.”.

According to a Yediot Achronot report on Sunday, 22 Elul, during a meeting with Druze leaders in Yarcha, Rav Lau spoke of the need to amend the law to avoid harming the relationship with the nation’s Druze community.

“The Druze community is part of us and we have to ensure that it has full equality in the services that the state provides,” said Rabbi Lau, adding that “there is no reason why the roads in Yarcha and other Druze villages I visited should look the way they do”.

In one of his responses to attacks against the law, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said, “The State of Israel is the national state of the Jewish people. Israel is a Jewish and democratic state. Individual rights are anchored in many laws including Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty.

“Nobody has harmed – and nobody intends to harm – these individual rights but without the Nation-State Law it will be impossible to ensure for [future] generations the future of Israel as a Jewish national state.

“The Nation-State Law, first of all, entrenches the Law of Return. It raises it to another level and this law, of course, grants an automatic right to Jews, and only to them, to come here and receive citizenship. The Nation-State Law, for example, prevents the exploitation of the family reunification clause under which very, very many Palestinians have been absorbed into the country since the Oslo agreement, and this law helps prevent the continued uncontrolled entry into Israel of Palestinians. It could be that this law will also be able to assist us in blocking the future entry of labor migrants.

“These and other things are happening because the laws of the state anchored in basic laws only individual rights without any constitutional balance vis-à-vis our national component; therefore, we legislated the Nation-State Law in order to ensure the existence of the State of Israel as a state that is not only democratic but as the national state of the Jewish people and of it alone. This is necessary not only for our generation but for the coming generations.

“The deep bond between the Druse community and our commitment to it are also essential; therefore, today we will establish a special ministerial committee to advance this bond and this commitment and at the same time will appreciate those of all religions and all ethnic communities who serve in the IDF and the security forces.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)