Rafik Halabi

aaa aaa ... I stand here, someone who was betrayed, a worried citizen whose love of this land is difficult and problematic but also unequivocal. Looks at the thousands of Druze together with Jews and Arabs, new immigrants and veteran Israelis, religious and secular, all of whom came to the square and all of whom are shouting: 'Equality!' [Shouts of 'Equality' from the crowd] For 70 years we suffered in silence; we were a submissive ethnic group and today we are coming out to fight in unity in order to change that reality. Our fight now is for our Israeli-ness, our citizenship, the depth of our belonging and the essence of our identification. The leaders of the nation today are unable to connect us, Israelis, to their Jewish identity as they interpret it. The Nation State Law damages our "Life Contract", a contract saturated with blood. We demand that that contract be a contract of equals.