Minister of Communications Ayoub Kara (Likud) voted last week in favor of the Nationality Law, and since then has been subjected to severe attacks by his brethren in the Druze community. On Sunday, Kara was contacted by the unit for VIP security who warned him about those mounting threats, and said they were considering giving him a personal security guard.
The harsh attacks against the minister come via the social networks, as well as over the minister’s personal phone. Those include death threats against Kara and personal attacks against his wife and daughter who have already been expelled from an event they attended.
Three Druze MKs, two of them members of the coalition, petitioned the High Court of Justice against the Nationality Law. The petitioners are MKs Akram Hasson (Kulanu), Hamad Amar (Yisrael Beiteinu) and Salah Sa’ad (Zionist Union), who were joined by the chairman of the Forum of Druze Municipalities, Druze mayors and members of the Institute for the Study of the Druze Community.
The petition states that, as representatives of the Druze community, the petitioners seek to disqualify the new Basic Law because of its substantial violation of equality and the fact that the law contradicts the basic principles of the State of Israel. According to them, the law abolishes the democratic identity of the state for non-Jews, and segregates against loyal citizens because of the struggles between the extreme right and the left.
Minister Kara posted on his Facebook page: “I am not deterred by incitement and the threats against me and my family – neither am I afraid. I will continue to represent my people with dignity and pride – as I have done in the past and will do in the future.
“The Nationality Law does not make us second class citizens – on the contrary, it complements the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, and does not contradict it. The new law in no way detracts from the individual rights guaranteed to the citizens of Israel and all its residents. The nationality law also grants special status to the Arabic language, which will not be harmed, and regulates its use in state institutions. I continue to stand behind my point of view – threats to my life will not change my determined positions and my national and Zionist outlook.”
On Sunday, MK Amar told Reshet Bet, “The chairman of my party (Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman) expressed clearly that he did not like this law. He wanted to adopt the Declaration of Independence and turn it into this law. How can the Israeli government adopt a law that only 65 MKs vote for?”
For the record, the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, which the new law aims to balance out, was passed, in 1992, by a vote of 32 to 21.