Hezbollah's deadly rocket attack that killed 12 children not only brought Israel and the Iran-backed terror group to the brink of war, but also put the little-known Druze community in the center of international attention, reported the Israeli news agency TPS, quoted by BTA.
"In recent years there has been a very positive change among the Druze of the Golan Heights. Today they are Israelis in every way. If you listen to them in recent days, they speak fluent Hebrew and they all talk about "the attack on the Golan Heights as an attack on Israel,", Nadim Amar told TPS.
Amar is the founder and chairman of the Druze Foundation for Academic and Cultural Advancement "Or-Israel", which is located in the village of Julis in the northern part of the district. "The shift towards integration in Israel began after the war in Syria. More and more people want to establish a relationship. "Since yesterday, we have seen that the total solidarity of the whole society and of the Jews with the severe disaster has revealed how the Druze are an integral part of Israeli society," Amar explained.
The Druze living in the Galilee and Mount Carmel regions sided with the Jews in 1948 during Israel's War of Independence, chose to be part of Israeli society, and asserted themselves in all spheres of public life. When Israel captured the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War in 1967, the Golan Druze refused Israeli offers of citizenship, believing that Syria would regain control of them.
Thus, for nearly 40 years, Golan Druze students studied in Syrian educational institutions, married women from the Syrian Druze community, and even returned with them to the Israeli Golan to settle. "After October 7, many Druze from the Golan who did not serve in the army decided to enlist and are currently serving in special units defending the settlements. This is a very noticeable change that has occurred in the last decade," he added.
The Druze communities in Israel, Lebanon and Syria consider themselves descendants of the biblical Jethro, whom they call Shuaib - father-in-law of Moses. They speak Arabic but are not Muslim. In Israel, the Druze occupy high public and military positions, and the relationship between Jewish and Druze soldiers is called the "covenant of blood".
According to data published by the Statistical Office of Israel, the Druze have increased tenfold - from 14,500 people in 1949 to 152,000 people. The Druze do not advertise their beliefs, do not marry, and do not accept new converts. However, Kamilia Fallah told the TPS that this does not contradict the social progress of the community.
"We are a community that defends itself against everything, we protect our village and our families. Despite our conservatism, however, we are very open to progress. There are many scholars in our community. Among our women there are impressive scientists, professors and members of the Knesset. You can find us in every business sector. We have everything, just like everyone else,'' says Fallah, who runs the Salman Fallah Druze Heritage Center. in the village of Sumei in Western Galilee.
"As Druze, because of our secret religion, we were hidden for many years. We lived this way because of the hostility of the societies with which we coexisted. In Israel, however, this has changed. Israel gave us the respect and freedom we deserved, and that's how we integrated into it," she explains.
"Here we integrate with all communities, preserving our traditions. We return it with even greater respect to the one who respects us. This is the story of our community," she said. One particular gesture of solidarity that struck a chord with Israelis was that of Basma Hino, who made her restaurant kosher so she could hand out free food to soldiers passing through her village of Julis towards the northern border.
"I want to feed all the Israeli soldiers! They are all like my children, it doesn't matter if they are Druze or Jewish,'' Hino told TPS in December. Later, Hino was given the honor of lighting a torch at the annual Independence Day ceremony.
Since October 7, ten Druze soldiers have died in the line of duty, eight of them near Gaza and two in northern Israel. Since the founding of Israel, 439 Druze soldiers have been killed in combat. "We see that the total solidarity of the society as a whole and of the Jews with the severe disaster revealed how the Druze are an integral part of the Israeli society,", Amar said.