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Just when you think the New York Times couldn’t sink any lower, after favorably showcasing and quoting Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, along with his “warning” that “Israeli attacks threaten ‘chaos’ in Syria,” the Times went on to serve as al-Sharaa’s mouthpiece by reporting that his attacks on the Druze were based on the paranoia of the Druze community. The Times stated that the Druze “deeply distrust Syria’s new authorities,” and “thought that the government forces were coming to attack the Druze. The militias then mobilized to repel the incoming government forces.”
The Druze community in Syria is anything but naïve or jumpy. They are astute, know their enemy, and are of vital importance to Israel for strategic and historical reasons. The predominantly Druze city of Sweida is not far from the Israeli border. The Arab Weekly explains why the Druze are so critically important to Israel as allies, stating that “Beneath the moral justification lies a layer of realpolitik. Southern Syria has long been a zone of strategic anxiety for Israel.”
Unlike Muslim and Christian Arabs, Druze men are conscripted into the military. They serve in elite combat units, rise to high ranks in the IDF, and have long been held up as a model of Arab integration. Several senior military officers, intelligence officials and Knesset members are Druze.
The Middle East Institute points out that Druze political and military forces “wield a great deal of influence” in Sweida province, where they have “established checkpoints,” “enacted community policing,” and clashed with jihad terror groups whenever they “made incursions into the province.” Some of these clashes have been with Hizballah.
Newsweek points out a deep history of loyalty that binds Israel and the Druze together:
Druze in Israel have forged what is often referred to as “a covenant of blood” with the Jewish state. Jethro—the biblical prophet Moses’ father-in-law—is the most important prophet in the Druze religion and the ancestor of all Druze. Alongside the Jewish majority, the Druze in Israel are the only religious community that is required by law to serve in the Israel Defense Forces (at the request of Druze religious and communal leaders).
The Hill notes the immediate source of the Sunni government of al-Sharaa’s desire to persecute the Druze: the “Druze are Arabs but not Muslims,” even though the Druze religion is an offshoot of Islam that originated a millennium ago.
The Druze present an inconvenient truth. While they are Arabs, they have not taken up the Palestinian cause of “resistance,” which is the central cause of the Muslim ummah today, as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has stated.
The close identification of Islam and Arab identity has been overstated. While Arabs, including Muslim Arabs, share an ancient familial tie with Jews through Abraham as the offspring of Ishmael (the firstborn son of Hagar and Abraham), according to Islamic tradition, Muhammad and his religion, Islam, only appeared in the seventh century. Via conquest, Islam took over the Middle East and forced conversion upon the people they violently subjugated. Over time, Islam has come to be considered as the religion of the Arabs. Yet among Arabs are also found Christians (Copts, Greek Orthodox, Chaldean Catholics, Roman Catholics, Maronites, evangelicals, and others); Yazidis, even some Baha’is, and the Druze.
The Druze religion is an Abrahamic faith, and this leads many Muslims to press them to convert to what they claim is the true religion of Abraham and the Arabs, Islam. Muslims consider themselves to be the offspring of Abraham, but fewer than 15% of the world’s Muslims are Arabs, according to Pew Research.
Given the Druze “blood covenant with Israel,” it is not surprising that over 80% of Druze men in Israel have enlisted in the IDF. This level of participation and commitment “has led to significant representation in leadership roles, including as generals and unit commanders.” So from a tactical, Israeli security and loyalty point of view, can it really be expected that Israel would not respond swiftly to violent attacks against the Druze community near the Syrian-Israeli border?
Jihad is at the core of all Middle East troubles. The president of Syria, Abu Mohammad Al-Jolani (aka Ahmed Al-Sharaa), is a liar, a trait which is characteristic of all jihadists. He has accused Israel of “sowing discord” in its recent Syrian airstrikes, while also reiterating his fake promise “to protect the rights and freedom of Syria’s Druze community — and avoid an ‘open war’ with Israel.” He added that Syria “will never be a place for division or fragmentation.”
Last Tuesday, Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli called for the “elimination” of al-Sharaa, for much the same reasons for which the likes of Osama bin Laden was killed. Even Barack Obama announced after bin Laden’s death: “Justice was done.” As al-Sharaa grew closer to Islam and adopted “Salafi-jihadi ideology”, he grew a beard, adopted traditional Islamic attire, and tried to emulate the lifestyle and appearance of bin Laden. Now, on the other hand, he’s trying to emulate a civilized Western gentleman in order to manipulate fools (such as the New York Times). Jihadists recognize and exploit the weakness of the West.
In a statement that was issued a day after Chikli’s post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated (courtesy of the Israel Government Press Office):
“My brothers, the Druze citizens of Israel: the situation in Sweida, the situation in south-western Syria, is very serious.
The IDF is operating, the Air Force is operating, other forces are operating. We are acting to save our Druze brothers and to eliminate the gangs of the regime.
And now I have a single request of you: you are Israeli citizens. Do not cross the border. You are risking your lives; you could be murdered, you could be taken hostage, and you are impeding the efforts of the IDF. Therefore I ask of you: return to your homes and let the IDF take action”.
The Syrian regime is ruled by violent jihadists — from its leader to his jihadist loyalists. It has engaged in the slaughter of Christians, Alawites, Druze and other minorities since the ousting of former President Bashar al-Assad. Israel, in knowing the danger Syria presents at its border upon the collapse of Assad regime, prudently set up a defense perimeter, despite the unreasonable demands and objections of its Arab neighbors. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and the UN condemned Israel for a supposed “dangerous land grab in Syria” in December. Of course, Israel’s actions had nothing to do with a land grab. It was to protect the Jewish state from more jihadist attacks.
According to The Media Line, Israel managed to secure control over “the demilitarized buffer zone in Syria that was established as part of a 1974 ceasefire reached between the two hostile countries. In that buffer zone is Mt. Hermon’s highest peak, the highest point on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The territory guarantees strategic control over the whole southern Syrian arena, which generates an immediate threat to Israel…..There is no higher vantage point than the Syrian part of the Golan.”
Jihadists cannot be trusted or appeased.
The battle in Syria was fierce over a week, as Israel again took on the lion’s share of tackling jihadists, amid unjust criticism, not to mention an egregious insensitivity to minority populations suffering under al-Sharaa.
Last Wednesday, the Jerusalem Post reported that the IDF was prepared for days of battles in Sweida, as it carried out aerial strikes on 160 Syrian targets. On the same day, Marco Rubio issued this statement on X:
Good luck. Since when do jihadists ever live up to deals, ceasefires and commitments? They have been bent on conquest for 1,400 years, and counting. Al-Sharaa will continue to make a show when he knows the world is watching, but he is a seasoned jihadist.