Day 298 Of The War: Erase The Nation State Law

Last Saturday night, I wasn’t in Kaplan. Currently I am visiting my family abroad,  but like so many other Israelis, I stay connected to everything which is going on in Israel. That’s how I heard, almost in real time, about the horrible tragedy in the north, the Hezbollah rocket attack that killed 12 children playing football outside in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights. In addition to the casualties, over forty people were wounded in the attack.

For the last 10 months, we wake up every day to new horrible tragedies, and there is no one we can turn to for bringing an end to this bloodshed and the necessary changes. On the Israeli side, we have a cynical and corrupt government that cares nothing about the welfare of the citizens, children included. On the Hamas side, the terrorists who brought about the slaughter on October 7 do not care about anybody in Gaza, including children. Apparently, they feel that they have nothing to lose.

The grieving residents of Majdal Shams did the right thing when they kicked out the members of the government who came to pay their respects and offer condolences. It is not surprising that in this Druze town, Netanyahu was persona non grata as well. This disastrous government does nothing to protect them; quite the contrary.

In 2018, another right-wing extremist government headed by Netanyahu successfully sabotaged the good relationship between the Arab citizens, especially the Druze, and the state when they passed the Nation-State Law (Nationality Law), which established the elevated status of Jews in Israel above all other citizens. This unjust law was a stab in the Druze citizens’ back and created a rift within our country. Given the current war, and especially after the tragedy in Majdal Shams, it is high time to erase this law and get rid of Netanyahu and his extremist government.