Israeli organization accuses Majadle of "discriminating against Druze"

By DIMI REIDER
The Israeli Zionist Council has claimed that Sports and Culture Minister, Ghaleb Majadle, was discriminating against the Druze community in his decisions on allocating budgets for cultural activities. In a statement released Sunday, the council noted that while the cultural budget of the Arab sector grew by 8 million shekels in 2007, reaching a total of 18 millions, the budget of the Druze sector remained the same at NIS 2.9 million. They alleged that this stemmed from the minister's exceeding "loyalty to the sector from which he came". The Druze community constitutes 1.9% of Israel's population, while the Arab one constitutes nearly 20%. The statement, signed by IZC chairman Moshe Ben Atar, and chairman of the Zionist Druze Movement, Youssef Nassradin, demanded of Majadle to correct the discrimination forthwith. "We demand Majadle to behave state-like, rather than care only for the narrow interests of his own sector", wrote Ben Atar. "Nurturing the Druze sector is an important strategy, necessary today more than ever before".