1. Why do some Israelis feel that even though they are citizens, the Israeli government does not respect their community, or the dominant Ashkenazic Jewish Israeli society does not regard them as “authentic Israelis”?
Druze and Ethiopians Israelis, even though they are citizens, the Israeli government does not respect their community. Most of Druze religion is kept hidden from the outside world as well as most Druze, who are only allowed to know the simplified version (Rosenthal, 293). Given that Druze religion is not regarded as conventional to the dominant Israeli society, it is not respected and is separated from Israeli society. Druze religion is rigorous, such as they are forbidden to marry a non-Druze. Druze have practiced strict endogamy for almost a thousand years, so converting someone to their religion is prohibited. If a Druze were to marry a non-Druze, they would be excommunicated and removed from the village. That being said, more than a third of marriages are to close relatives and in more conservative villages the rate increases by half. The Israeli government labels the Druze as a separate religious community, so the Druze have their religious courts that oversee marriage, divorce, e...
