Six of the IDF fatalities to date in the Gaza war have come from Israel’s Druze community: Lt.-Col. Alim Saed, Lt.-Col. Salman Habka, Maj. Jamal Abbas, Sgt. Daniel Rashed, Sgt. Jawad Amer and St.-Sgt. Adi Harb. Many more soldiers from the community, which makes up just 1.5% of Israel’s population, have been wounded.
Once again, as in previous wars, the ultimate sacrifice of the Israeli Druze goes above and beyond its relative size in relation to the general population.
“The Druze community has had a special relationship with the Jewish people of Israel since long before the establishment of the state,” said Dr Amir Khnifess, chairman of the Israeli-Druze Center. “What we have seen in recent weeks, the contribution of Druze soldiers and officers, is quite normal. There’s nothing surprising here, because Druze soldiers have been taking part in all the wars Israel has faced since 1948.”
The Druze effort in Israel's war against Hamas and push for equality
Civilians in Druze villages across the Galilee and the Carmel mountain range have also rallied to the cause, with dozens of initiatives in support of the families of the hostages, the families evacuated from the Gaza border communities and the northern border, and soldiers at the front.
Druze mayors and councils, public institutions, restaurants, Druze families, and elementary and secondary schools, have all joined the unprecedented volunteer effort.
The day after the war started, the Israeli-Druze Center in Isfiya, on Mount Carmel next to Daliat al-Carmel, set up the Druze Aid Headquarters, utilizing the Arabic-language skills of Druze volunteers to help Israeli intelligence. The volunteers comb through video clips posted by terrorist groups and sympathizers and Arabic TV station footage, in an effort to identify terrorists and locate the hostages.
The headquarters, which works in cooperation with other volunteer groups such as Brothers and Sisters in Arms and US organizations, also provides shuttle buses for soldiers and accommodation for evacuees, and has spearheaded the establishment of rapid-response units in Druze villages close to the northern border. Clothes, food, drinks, and even military equipment are dispatched to soldiers at the front, around the clock, from the Druze villages.
For Khnifess, who himself has been drafted as a captain in the reserves, the volunteer spirit comes as no surprise.
“Israel is now facing a crisis and facing a war on two fronts, in the south and the north. This is a time when communities prove their loyalty to the state,” he said. “The Druze perceive themselves as an integral part of Israeli society, as part of the State of Israel. It’s their country, and their contribution is only natural. So the minute the country was in crisis, we mobilized, and we are standing behind the Israeli war effort.”
IN THE months before the war, there was mounting anger in the Druze community, aimed at the government. The catalyst was the plan to confiscate land from Druze farmers on the Golan Heights for the construction of a wind turbine farm. But the frustration went deeper, and two issues caused particular consternation: the so-called Kamenitz law, which makes it difficult for young Druze couples to build a home, and the Nation-State Law, passed five years ago, which characterizes Israel as a Jewish state but fails to address the standing of non-Jewish citizens or ensuring their equal rights.
Speaking at the funeral of Maj. Jamal Abbas, the commander of the Paratroopers Brigade 101st Battalion, who fell in Gaza, his grandfather Col. (ret.) Gideon Abbas said: “I’m ashamed of all the racist laws in the country. We share the same fate, and not just from today. The time has come for you to look at us squarely in the eye,” he told government representatives attending the funeral.
Earlier this month, Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Muwafaq Tarif urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to amend the Nation-State Law, to ensure equal rights for Israel’s minorities.
Netanyahu, responding to reporters’ questions about whether he would accede to Druze community demands to amend the law, was noncommittal, merely saying: “The Druze are a valued community. They fight; they fall. We will give them everything they deserve. We’ll find the ways to do this; it’s essential.”
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Coalition Chairman Ofir Katz intend to advance a Basic Law to anchor the standing of Druze society in the State of Israel. The measure would specify that Israel will ensure equal rights for all, regardless of religion, race, gender, or nationality, in the spirit of its Declaration of Independence.
Other politicians are also pushing for change. Minister Chili Tropper from the National Unity Party sent a message to cabinet secretary Yossi Fuchs and to Katz demanding that a consensus be reached on amending the Nation-State Law. Tropper, who joined the government as a minister-without-portfolio when the war cabinet was created, said discussions are ongoing with the Likud in an effort to reach an agreement on the specific wording of the amendment.
“I hope the fact that six members of the Druze community fell may have awoken those who thought that the law should not be changed,” he said.
The National Unity Party contends that the Nation-State Law must be amended in response to the criticism from the Druze community. Party officials accused the Likud of promoting the Basic Law: Druze Community specifically in order to avoid amending the Nation-State Law.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid, the head of Yesh Atid, also called for the law to be amended. “Let us fix the Nation-State Law at this moment to make it clear that in life and in death, we are equal,” he said.
Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern also said the plans for a new Basic Law for the Druze community did not go far enough. “The current government and coalition continue to misunderstand the great sin in the Nation-State Law,” he said, arguing that Katz and Cohen need to address the Bedouin community, too, and this couldn’t be done separately from the Nation-State Law.
“The amendment we have to make is in the Nation-State Law and not anywhere else,” he said. “Any special law for the Druze community exhibits a misunderstanding of the severity of the insult and continues to disparage our Druze brothers and other minorities.”
Construction and Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, who heads the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism Party, backed the move for a Basic Law for the Druze community.
“Better late than never,” he said. “I welcome the important initiative that will create historic justice for the Druze community in Israel,” he said. “Between the State of Israel and the Druze community there is a blood bond, and we have the responsibility and the duty to do everything for the citizens of Israel to be equal in their standing and their rights.”
Khnifess said the Druze grievances haven’t been forgotten, but the war comes first.
“The minute the war started we put everything to the side. This is not the time to talk about politics or to negotiate about issues like this. It’s the time to fight and to protect our country, and that’s exactly what we’ve been doing since the war started,” he clarified. “So, yes, we were angry, we didn’t like what the government did. But we have enough time to talk about these issues after the war. For now, we have one aim – to destroy the terrorist organizations in the north and the south, and the only aim we want to achieve is victory.” •