Druze candidate Gadeer Kamal Mreeh is likely to sit in the Israeli parliament. At the age of 35, she was the first Druze woman elected to the Knesset in April. But the Israeli parliament was quickly dissolved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the young woman returned to campaign for the legislative 17 September. His hobbyhorse: the amendment of the law that consecrates Israel as a "Jewish state".

In 25th place on the centrist list "Blue-White" led by Benny Gantz, the main rival of Benjamin Netanyahu, she has great chances to return to the Knesset. For a real mandate this time.

Repeal the "Jewish Nation State" Law

For the Druze candidate, the country is becoming radicalized. As proof the law passed in 2018 defining Israel as "Jewish nation-state", under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu. His goal: to repeal this law. "That's why I entered politics, to restore equality," slipped the one who became the first non-Jewish woman to submit information in Hebrew on a national television channel.

The law of the nation-state confers on Jews the "unique" right to self-determination in Israel and proclaims that Hebrew is the only official language of the country. This text is considered discriminatory by its opponents and is denounced by minorities in the country, such as Israeli Arabs and Druze.

Some 140,000 Druze (about 1.5% of the population) live mainly in northern Israel. They are full citizens of the Jewish state, with the exception of a portion of them who reside on the Syrian Golan Heights, occupied in 1967 by Israel and then annexed. An annexation contrary to international law but recognized by the United States of Donald Trump.

Israeli diversity

The Druze, who profess a faith from a branch of Shiite Islam, serve in the military, unlike the Israeli Arabs who are descendants of Palestinians who remained on their land at the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 .

Gadeer Kamal Mreeh Mreeh pleads for the respect and enhancement of Israeli diversity. "I am a woman and I come from a minority", asserts this mother of two children. "I arrived there, it was not easy, believe me when I tell you that you can get there," she said at a meeting in his village of Daliat el-Carmel, tucked into the green hills of northern Israel.

"The voice of the new generation"

Nisreen Abu Asale, a 25-year-old law student, is conquered. "She represents me completely, it's the voice of the new generation," she said, her gaze sparkling. "She inspires me," said Yara Zahereldin, a 21-year-old political science student, who said she was particularly sensitive to the speech on equal opportunities. And the candidate's aura seems to go well beyond the female, since she was knighted by the spiritual leader of the Druze community, Sheikh Mouafak Tarif.

But this acceptance does not guarantee a siege to Gadeer Mreeh, who is playing the card of opposition to the nation-state law to continue cutting votes to Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud.

In recent decades, the Druze opted for the Likud, but they voted for Benny Gantz in the April elections, explains to AFP Yusri Khaizran, specialist in the history of the Middle East at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, based on the data he has collected.

According to him, this scenario is likely to recur on September 17th. "This is mainly due to the frustration of the Druze, who felt betrayed by the law of the nation-state." But "the presence of Gadeer Kamal Mreeh on the centrist list is undeniably a plus".

With AFP