Meeting with the Forum of Leaders of Druze and Circassian Local Authorities Oct. 26, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked surprised everyone by announcing that she was changing the municipal status of the Maghar local council to municipality. This turned Maghar into the first — and to date, the only — Druze city in the entire country. In her statement, Shaked noted that this development is further proof of the “courageous and strong ties between the Druze and Jewish peoples.”
The new mayor of the city, Fareed Ghanem, posted to Facebook that he was as surprised as anyone by the minister’s decision, saying, “Minister Ayelet Shaked surprised me. The plan was to have her visit Maghar next month to declare it a city in an official ceremony. We do not intend to give up on that ceremony, because it is our right to celebrate and share the joy with the local and national leadership.”
One of Maghar’s most prominent citizens is the chairman of the Ra’am party and member of the coalition, Mansour Abbas. He also took to Facebook to congratulate the town on this desicion: “Congratulations to my town of Maghar, which, as of today, is the city of Maghar.”
Other prominent residents of the city are Azzam Azzam, who spent eight years in an Egyptian prison on charges of spying for Israel, only to be released in 2004, and former Knesset member Jabar Asaqla, who represented the Hadash Knesset faction on the Arab Joint List.
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