Druze lawmakers file first lawsuit against Israeli nation-state law – Israel News



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Three Druze deputies joined a number of Druze groups on Sunday to file the first petition of the High Court of Justice against the nation-state law, which was passed by the Knesset last week. .

Akram Hasoon (Kulanu), Saleh Saad (Zionist Union) and Hamad Amar (Yisrael Beiteinu) led the petitioners. Hasoon and Amar both voted against the law, even though they are members of the ruling coalition.

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The petitioners call for the repeal of the law, officially known as the Basic Law on Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, or parts of it, and to prevent its publication in the State Gazette of the State. They argue that this violates fundamental rights such as the right to equality, and believes that non-Jewish minorities have no status in the state.

The petitioners also argued that the law is prejudicial to members of the Druze security forces, including Druze soldiers, as well as to "bereaved Druze families who were exiled from their country despite their sacrifice for it". .

According to the petition, the law "completely ignores the Druze minority in particular and the Arab minority in general". The petition also states that it not only defines Israel as a state that emphasizes its Jewishness, but also "consecrates the collective rights of the Jewish majority." The Arab minority, which makes up 20% of Israeli citizens, receives no recognition of all its collective rights, but beyond that, it does not even gain recognition as a minority in Israel ", while individual rights are not protected.

Hasoon said, "We will do our utmost to stop this racist law, not only for my community, but especially for the image of Israel and the people of Israel. first my brothers the Jews, but unfortunately, cheap political considerations have outweighed the good of the state of Israel.in the time of Ben Gurion and of Begin, this law would not have been proposed, "he said.

Legislators of the Joint List and the Arab Legal Rights NGO, Adalah, are also considering filing a petition against the law in the High Court, claiming that there is discrimination at law. against Arabs and violation of international law. They underline in particular Article 7 of the law, which encourages the creation of communities solely for Jews, which they say contravenes previous decisions of the High Court. In the case of Ka'Adan in 2000 against the Israel Lands Administration, a panel of five High Court judges ruled that the state could not allocate land to entities that would establish communities only for Jews.

Legal experts told Haaretz that they thought the likelihood of the court invalidating the law was "very low" because it had the constitutional status of a basic law. According to these experts, the petition does not address the law of the nation-state being a basic law. In such a case, the argument that this goes against other basic laws is not enough to bring it down.

The possibility of judicial review of fundamental laws was recently discussed in a petition rejected by the High Court against a 2016 law authorizing the Knesset to oust a member for inciting racism or for calling for a struggle army against Israel. At the time, the High Court left unanswered the question of whether it had the power to rescind an amendment to a fundamental law because of unconstitutionality.

The first time the High Court intervened in a basic law was an amendment to the Basic Law on the State Economy, amendment that allowed for a two-year budget, which which contradicts another fundamental law that states the Knesset will approve the state budget once a year. This year, an expanded court of the High Court ruled that in the future, the Knesset could not spend a two year budget in the form of an emergency measure.

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