Dedicated to the Hasson family of Daliat al-Carmel and all our Druze brethren.
As violence erupts across Syria’s Druze heartland, with more than 160 people killed in recent clashes, some voices suggest that Israel should prioritize potential rapprochement with Syria’s new Islamist leadership over protecting the Druze. This would be a catastrophic strategic and moral error.
The misguided “realpolitik” argument: The argument goes: Intervening to save Syria’s Druze might complicate Israel’s chances of bringing Syria into the Abraham Accords. Better to abandon the Druze and make peace with what critics call the “ISIS-in-suits” who now rule Damascus. This calculation is not just morally bankrupt, it’s strategically disastrous.
The Druze are integral to Israeli identity
The Druze community in Israel occupies a unique position as a minority group deeply integrated into national defense and political life. With over 80 percent of Druze men enlisting in the IDF, one of the highest enlistment rates in the country, they have proven their unwavering commitment to the Jewish state. David Ben-Gurion recognized this special relationship early, declaring in 1949 that “The Druze in Israel have shown unwavering loyalty to the State of Israel, contributed greatly to its security and sacrificed for it.”
The Druze aren’t guests in Israel; they’re an inseparable familial part of it. Druze soldiers serve in sensitive areas, such as Israel’s borders and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. They have shed their blood defending Israel’s security, with hundreds of casualties over five decades of military service. Druze also hold positions in the Knesset and key governmental roles.
Destabilizing Israel isn’t worth any peace deal
Alienating Israel’s Druze community would fracture one of the most successful integration stories in the Middle East. The Druze maintain Arabic language and culture, while serving with distinction in Israel’s military and government. Creating internal division within Israel’s most loyal minority community for the sake of appeasing an Islamist regime would be trading away a proven alliance for an uncertain promise.
The moral imperative: no second-class citizens
The fundamental question is stark: If it were Jews being massacred across the fence, Israel would intervene immediately. The Druze aren’t second-class citizens deserving lesser protection.
Recent events underscore the urgency. Beginning in March 2025, significant sectarian violence occurred in Syria, with fighting in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, killing more than 30 people and wounding 100 others. Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, the spiritual leader of Israel’s Druze community, made a public appeal explicitly calling for Israeli intervention to protect Syrian Druze communities facing violence.
The Syrian reality check
Those advocating accommodation with Syria’s new regime ignore uncomfortable realities. Syria’s new president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, is a former al-Qaeda member. Under al-Sharaa’s rule in Idlib, the Druze population was permitted to remain only by converting to Sunni Islam or facing violence. To this day, the Druze of Idlib are forced to practice Sunni Islam.
Syrian security forces have been preventing Druze reinforcements from providing assistance to their community members under attack.
Not hypothetical. Existential
The crisis has reached a breaking point, where dozens of Israeli Druze have illegally crossed the border into Syria near the village of Hader, attempting to reach their families under attack.
The images emerging from Syria evoke the darkest chapters of the 20th century. Gunmen compel elderly men to bleat like sheep. Young Druze men have their mustaches forcibly shaved in acts of humiliation.
This bears chilling resemblance to the tactics used in 1930s Germany. When Israeli Druze are so desperate that they risk illegal border crossings to help their families, we’re witnessing not a diplomatic inconvenience but an existential crisis.
The strategic imperative
The broader strategic picture reinforces the case for protecting the Druze. Regional reliability matters: While Arab regimes come and go, the Druze have proven their loyalty for decades. Most importantly, Israel’s moral authority as a protector of minorities throughout the region depends on standing by its commitments to those who have stood by Israel.
The choice before Israel
Israel has already begun limited intervention, conducting “warning strikes” on government positions in and around Damascus and evacuating several wounded Druze civilians to the Ziv Medical Center in Safed. But more decisive action may be needed.
Any “peace” built on abandoning allies who have sacrificed for Israel’s security would be both morally hollow and strategically fragile.
Mr. Netanyahu, the Druze have proven their loyalty to Israel through blood and service. The time has come for Israel to prove its loyalty to them. Save the Druze, today.■