Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Coalition Chairman Ofir Katz will advance a basic law to anchor the standing of Druze society in the State of Israel, they announced on Saturday night.

The announcement comes two weeks after Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Muwafaq Tarif urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to amend the Nation-State Law to ensure equal rights to Israel’s minorities.

Controversial Nation-State Law

The Nation-State Law was passed five years ago and is the only law that characterizes Israel as a Jewish state. The law has always been controversial because while it details the characteristics that make Israel a Jewish nation, it fails to address the standing of non-Jewish minority citizens or ensure their equal rights.

Tarif’s request comes a month after the October 7 massacre which launched the Israel-Hamas war in which many Druze soldiers have fought and some have lost their lives.

He also sent a copy of the letter to opposition leader Yair Lapid who called for the law to be amended.“Let us fix the Nation-State Law at this moment to make it clear that in life and in death, we are equal,” he said.Netanyahu addressed the issue for the first time since receiving the letter during a press conference on Saturday night.

Druze prayer house. (credit: LIAT COLLINS)
Druze prayer house. (credit: LIAT COLLINS)
“The Druze people are a valuable community,” he said. “They fight and they die. We will give them everything they are due. We will find the way to do it. It’s essential.”

Speaking at the funeral of fallen Druze soldier St.-Sgt. Adi Harb on Sunday, Tarif told Netanyahu that it was the government’s duty to act on his words.

“There is an unwritten agreement between every citizen and the state,” he said. “The Druze community does its part, and the state hasn’t.”

Katz’s and Cohen’s plan is, however, not to amend the Nation-State Law but to legislate a separate basic law that will define the standing of the Druze community. They have not yet published a bill, but their announcement did not refer to the Bedouin community or other Israeli Arabs.

Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern addressed this on Sunday saying it is further proof that “the current government and coalition continue to misunderstand the great sin in the Nation-State Law”.

He went on to say that Katz and Cohen needed to address the Bedouin community too but that it couldn’t be done separately from the Nation-State Law.

“The amendment we have to make is in the Nation-State Law and not anywhere else,” he said. “Any special law for the Druze community exhibits a misunderstanding of the severity of the insult and continues to disparage our Druze brothers and other minorities.”

Housing and Construction Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, who heads the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism Party, praised the move.

“Better late than never,” he said. “I welcome the important initiative that will create historical justice for the Druze community in Israel,” he said. “Between the State of Israel and the Druze community there is a blood bond, and we have the responsibility and the duty to do everything for the citizens of Israel to be equal in their standing and their rights.”