The Saturday night, Druze minority led demonstration opposed the "Basic Law - Nation-state", enacted last month by the Netanyahu government, designating Jews as an upper class by law. In a complex social disintegration/constitutional crisis, the Trump administration is unhelpful...
Druze in traditional garb, during the demonstration.
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Rabin square was totally packed, as well as surrounding streets.
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Druze and Israeli flags during the demonstration, with the Tel-Aviv municipality building in the background, lit in Druze flag colors.
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VIDEO: Screen print, showing the general scene of the demonstration, from the Channel 13 broadcast: https://www.facebook.com/reshet.tv/videos/10155568522670373/
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Tel-Aviv, August 04 - the Saturday night demonstration demanding equality, was held in response to the "Basic Law - Nation-state", enacted a couple of weeks ago by the Netanyahu government, which designated Jews as an upper class by law... The demonstration was led by the Druze minority. The Druze are a small (~140,000), Arabic speaking minority in Israel. They serve in IDF, and some of them rose to high ranks in the military.
However, it drew heavy participation by Jews as well as Christian representatives. Among the participants in the demonstration were former Mossad Chief Tamir Pardo, former senior IDF officers and various opposition members of Knesset. The demonstration was probably the largest in the square, since the 1995 pro-peace rally, at the end of which PM Rabin was assassinated...
Sheik Muwakaf Tarif, the Israeli Druze religious leader, said, "we believed that part of the Jewish heritage of the State of Israel would be full equality for non-Jewish citizens...". Former Shin-Bet head Yuval Diskin said the Basic Law- Nation-state was "despicable", "intended to serve petty political purposes". A written statement by Netanyahu's former Deputy PM, Dan Meridor, said the law was "shameful". Former State Attorney Moshe Lador said that the act would have a major impact on the courts, and warned the Druze community against any compromise. Druze former IDF general Amal As'ad, who leads the Druze opposition to the law, recited that Israeli Declaration of Independence, which promised "full political and social equality, with no distinction by religion, race, or gender".
The demonstration reflects current conditions in the State of Israel, which amount to social disintegration and a constitutional crisis, which are deliberately generated by PM Netanyahu, who is mired with corruption investigations. [i]
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