{"id":48137,"date":"2018-08-12T16:30:05","date_gmt":"2018-08-12T11:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/?p=48137"},"modified":"2018-08-12T16:30:06","modified_gmt":"2018-08-12T11:00:06","slug":"israeli-arabs-and-jews-protest-against-apartheid-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/world-news\/israeli-arabs-and-jews-protest-against-apartheid-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli Arabs and Jews Protest Against Apartheid Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israel\u2019s Arab population, a term used for Muslims, comprises mainly descendants of the Palestinians who remained on their land after the 1948 war at the time of the creation of Israel. Hundreds of thousands were forced to leave their homes or fled to refugee camps in the neighbouring countries.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu has defended the law, which says only Jews have the right of self-determination in the country and downgrades Arabic from an official language, saying it is necessary in order to fend off Palestinian challenges to Jewish self-determination. Earlier Arabic and Hebrew were official languages with equal status.<\/p>\n

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> posted on his Twitter page a video from the demonstration of a few protesters waving the Palestinian flag and chanting: \u201cWith spirit, with blood we shall redeem you, Palestine\u201d and wrote: \u201cThere is no better evidence of the nation-law\u2019s necessity.\u201d Separate TV footage showed a few Israeli flags being waved.<\/p>\n

$\"Israeli$ <\/a><\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s Arab citizens, who are identified as Palestinians make up about twenty percent of total 9 million populations. Israeli law grants them full equal rights but Muslims alleges discrimination and claim they were treated as second-class citizens.<\/p>\n

One of the protester said that the new law stipulates that \u201cIsrael is the historic homeland of the Jewish people and they have an exclusive right to national self-determination in it\u201d.<\/p>\n

Critics of the Israeli government\u2019s move allege that the new law is undemocratic because it differentiates between Jewish and non-Jewish citizens. However, those who support the new legislation say that civil equality is guaranteed in existing legislation.<\/p>\n

Druze community also protested against the new legislation last Saturday. They are about 120,000 citizens who could gather larger crowd in the protest. They are ethnic Arab members of a religious minority that is considered to be an offshoot of Islam incorporating elements of other faiths.<\/p>\n

Druze leaders have voiced a deep sense of betrayal over the law, striking a chord among many Israelis. However, efforts by Netanyahu to appease the Druze community have so far failed.<\/p>\n