Fear for the Druze—or for Assad?
Diana Moukalled/Alsharq Al Awsat/Tuesday, 23 Jun, 2015
Lebanese politician Wiam Wahab’s recent warning regarding the possibility of the Druze seeking refuge in Israel to escape the takfirist threat did not provoke the ire of the anti-Israel resistance ranks, whether on the media or the political level. Wahab, who has appeared on several TV channels yelling and threatening since the Al-Nusra Front killed 30 Druze in Syria, said: “When people sense danger, they’d even go to the devil”—meaning Israel. His statements went unnoticed, just like the statements of Rami Makhlouf, the Syrian businessmen and Bashar Al-Assad’s cousin, once did. Makhlouf had at the beginning of the Syrian revolution said that Israel’s security will be threatened if the popular uprising is not restrained in the country. Wahab’s statements were not considered to be issued by a “foreign agent” and were thus met with consent, just like Makhlouf’s statements were met back then. During the four years separating the two remarks, so-called anti-Israel resistance figures have made plenty of statements that profess enmity to Israel when in fact they harbor other intentions.
The truth is that the Israeli media has been abuzz with talk of concern over the Druze situation in Syria. This concern was marketed as worry over the fate of Syrian Druze who are closely connected to Israel’s own Druze community. Israeli military preparations and further security measures in the Golan Heights have now been announced. Arab media followed up on this propaganda campaign by Israel and the resistance who also used its media outlets to exaggerate fear of takfirists and to warn of a potential massacre of the Druze. It is as if we are back to square one four years ago: stability is linked to the survival of authoritarian repressive regimes whose interests intersect with those of Israel. There is no doubt that the recent developments have brought back questions regarding the situation of the Druze minority in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan. What one group of Druze went through in Syria has directly affected the Druze of Lebanon and Israel. This brings into question the idea that in order for minorities to feel secure they have to remain loyal to authoritarian regimes.
We must not make the mistake of undermining the threat which takfirists pose to minorities. However, one should not forget the risk posed by authoritarian regimes, like the Ba’athists in Syria, who use minorities as a means to protect themselves. The Syrian regime’s exploitation of these minorities threatens the latter’s existence just as much as the takfirists do. This is not to mention that the Syrian regime has always used scaremongering over takfirism to gain legitimacy. Israel adds a new factor to the scene and complicates the whole situation. That Druze clerics have appeared on Israeli television channels to accuse Tel Aviv of negligence to protect their co-religionists in Syria is a new indication of the extent to which fundamentalists from both camps, the anti-Israel resistance and the takfirists, have pushed us and of how far the Syrian regime can go to employ the Israel card.
Israeli Druze arrested over attacks on wounded Syrian rebels
Ahiya Raved/Reuters/Ynetnews /06.24.15
Police raids Druze villages in Galilee, Golan overnight in search for perpetrators of two attacks on IDF ambulances taking wounded Syrian rebels for treatment in Israel, which resulted in death of one rebel. Police said Wednesday it arrested nine people overnight who are suspected of involvement in two attacks earlier this week on military ambulances transporting wounded from Syria for treatment in Israel. Police also searched the suspects’ homes in Druze villages in the Galilee and the Golan Heights.
Inflamed by media reports suggesting some of the hundreds of wounded Syrians admitted to Israel for medical care belong to jihadi rebel groups fighting the Druze in Syria, the crowds of Druze blocked two army ambulances for inspection. Early Monday morning, an IDF ambulance transporting wounded Syrians was attacked in the Druze local council of Hurfeish. One of the rioters was run over by the ambulance and taken to a Nahariya hospital for treatment. Late Monday night, another ambulance was attacked in Majdal Shams. The ambulance managed to flee the lynch mob but attacked again in Neve Ativ, where one of the wounded Syrian rebels it was transporting was killed, while the other was critically wounded.
An IDF doctor and another soldier were lightly wounded in the attack. The Nazareth Magistrate’s Court decided on Wednesday to extend the remand of two of the suspects in six days. The Druze have protested Israel’s continued treatment of wounded Syrian rebels, while pro-Assad Druze villages in Syria are in danger of being attacked by rebel forces, including jihadists from the al-Nusra Front. Radical Islamists see the Druze, whose religion is an offshoot of Islam, as apostates to be combated. Druze in Syria and many in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967, have long been loyal to President Bashar Assad. Police increased security over the past few weeks in a hospital in Nahariya where wounded Syrians are being treated, out of fear they will be targeted by Israeli Druze.
Druze leaders condemned the attack at the end of an emergency meeting on Tuesday and urged calm. “This is a criminal act, which completely contradicts the values of the Druze community that is known for generations for its aid and help to others, even when to its enemies. Any act of protest must be done within the limitations of the law. Those involved must be brought to justice,” they said in a statement. The Druze are an important minority in Israel and have influence within the government and the military. Netanyahu’s office said in a statement he would convene Druze leaders on Wednesday with a call “to calm tensions and to say to every Druze citizen of Israel to respect soldiers, law and order and not to take the law into their own hands”. Israel has also signaled it would intervene to prevent a massacre of Syrian Druze, with local media suggesting it might offer refugees from the community safe haven on the Golan.
Druse steeped in conspiracy theories
By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON, BEN HARTMAN/J.Post
06/24/2015
Israeli Druse are spreading various reports and conspiracy theories regarding the attacks on IDF ambulances carrying wounded from Syria.
In conversations with The Jerusalem Post, not only Druse leaders but also ordinary residents expressed belief in these rumors or at least some aspects of them. Some say Israel is purposefully aiding the jihadists, while others say they are taking advantage of Israel’s generous humanitarian policy. However, the IDF is adamant that these rumors are false.“The IDF has not aided the organization Jabhat al-Nusra since the fighting began in Syria four years ago,” said Spokesman Brig.–Gen. Moti Almoz, Channel 2 reported.
Speaking on Army Radio, Almoz said the men in the ambulance that was attacked Monday night were Syrian citizens injured in their country’s civil war. In conversations with Druse from the Golan Heights and Galilee this past week, Israel was repeatedly accused of either directly supporting the Nusra Front or helping them indirectly by treating their fighters and returning them to battle. Israel was painted as playing a direct role in the crisis facing the Syrian Druse, and of being culpable and the only party that could stop a catastrophe, either by direct military action such as air strikes on jihadis, or by opening the border and allowing in droves of Syrian Druse refugees.Several Druse called on Israel to stop treating all Syrians who arrive at the border seeking treatment – except for Druse – and said they expect people to take the law into their own hands and stop and search IDF ambulances, such as happened this week. Mendi Safadi – an Israeli Druse who has served as Deputy Regional Cooperation Minister Ayoub Kara’s chief of staff, and who has traveled in the region and met with Syrian opposition activists – told the Post this week that “Israel knows what it is doing. People coming to Israel are not jihadists.”
Asked about the rumors, Safadi responded that many Druse listen to Syrian regime media and follow related Facebook pages of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government. These sources push the narrative that Israel is aiding Nusra, and numerous Druse believe this. The Druse are following the media in order to follow what is going on with their families in Syria, he added. The main claim by Druse leaders is that since Israel’s humanitarian aid policy is generous and does not discriminate based on political views, it is giving medical treatment to Nusra Front fighters, though perhaps not purposefully. Dolan Abu Saleh, the mayor of Majdal Shams, when asked about the rumors and conspiracy theory spread by some Druse, which led to the attacks, responded that Israel has a policy to give humanitarian aid to all who are wounded, no matter their political position. “Israel sometimes gives medical treatment to Hamas terrorists,” he said, noting that the daughter of senior leader Ismail Haniyeh received medical treatment in Israel.
Saleh said Samir Kuntar, a Lebanese Druse terrorist who as a member of the Palestine Liberation Front took part in murdering Israelis in a 1979 beach raid on Nahariya, was in the Syrian Druse border town of Hader seeking to stir up anti-Israel activity. Druse and Circassian Local Councils Forum head Jaber Hamoud said Kuntar, who was released in a prisoner exchange with Hezbollah, is not considered Druse anymore. He added that Kuntar and others associated with Hezbollah are trying to create chaos inside Israel.
Whether the rumor is that Israel is purposefully aiding jihadists, or whether a Hezbollah- affiliated terrorist is behind the violence, Israeli Druse are on edge and disturbed by what they see as Israel’s hands-off policy and perceived indifference to their brethren in Syria.
**Reuters contributed to this report.
