Thursday, July 24, 2025
Elder of Ziyon
By Daled Amos
For me, Salim symbolized the living partnership between us, certainly the covenant of blood. He was with me when I was in mourning and I was with him when he was in mourning – but a great living partnership. Salim Shufi was a great moral force. He was a splendid man – modest, deep and imbued with values; I loved him very much.
There are times when the media appear incredibly fickle in focusing their coverage of the news, especially in the Middle East. Even with their constant coverage of the region, we are all aware of what they will emphasize and where the media biases lie.
The fighting began a week ago with clashes between Bedouin and fighters of the Druze community, which like some other minorities distrusts Sharaa's new Islamist government. Damascus sent troops to quell the fighting, but they were drawn into the violence and accused of widespread violations.
Interim President al-Sharaa has blamed the violence on "outlaw groups", promising to protect the rights of Druze and hold to account those who committed violations against them.
The article frames the conflict as sectarian violence between Druze and Bedouin. Later, it goes on to bring up Israeli measures to protect the Druze and mentions in passing Israel's justification for their bombings in Damascus, namely "the goal of protecting the Druze and keeping southern Syria demilitarized."
There is no explanation of why Israel is protecting the Druze in particular.
The Druze are a relatively small ethno-religious group whose beliefs and practices are relatively unknown. Their bond with Israel is partly explained by their loyalty to the state in which they reside. Those who live in Lebanon are loyal to Lebanon, those in Syria are loyal to Syria, and those in Israel are devoted to Israel. The Druze loyalty to Israel goes back to 1948 and even before that, to the Haganah.
And even earlier.
The bond between Jews and Druze goes back as early as the 12th century:
Benjamin of Tudela, the Jewish traveller who passed through Lebanon in 1165, was one of the first European writers to refer to the Druze by name. Even then, they were known as mountain-dwellers, and Benjamin described them as fearless warriors who favoured the Jews.
Although the Druze are Arabs, they have a historically strong connection not only with Israel, but with Jews in general, even back when Jews were neither strong nor a nation. This history helps explain the reason why Israel has actively defended the Druze, including those living in Syria.
And what exactly is Israel defending the Syrian Druze against?
John Spencer, author and researcher of urban warfare, posted on X on June 19:
The perpetrators include radical Islamist militants, Bedouin gangs, and regime-backed elements, all empowered by years of state collapse and lawlessness.
The carnage has been captured on video and is now spreading across social media. These are not vague reports or unverifiable claims. There is footage of Druze civilians being hunted down and executed.
Elders are dragged into the streets. Their mustaches shaved in acts of humiliation. For the Druze, this is not just an insult, it is desecration. In Druze culture, facial hair, especially the mustache, is a powerful symbol of dignity, piety, and manhood. Elder men are traditionally known for their modest appearance, religious devotion, and strict adherence to tradition, including the wearing of facial hair as a sign of spiritual discipline. Forcing a Druze elder to be shaved is meant to strip him of identity, honor, and religious status in front of his community. It is not just abuse. It is psychological warfare. It is a calculated act of degradation meant to erase who they are.
Women are stripped and assaulted. Men are beaten, tortured, and forced to leap from rooftops as militants cheer. More than one video shows Druze men being driven to the edge of their balconies, their homes surely quiet moments before. Balconies once filled with carefully nourished plants are suddenly overrun by screaming men with AK-47s. The peaceful stillness of domestic life is shattered by terror. The Druze men are forced to climb over the railings. As they leap, they are shot multiple times as they are leaping to their deaths. It is a special kind of evil. Deliberate. Performative. Proud.
All of it is filmed. All of it is shared online for the enjoyment of the killers...
The New York Times takes the same understated approach as Reuters:
The clashes, between armed groups from Bedouin tribes and the Druse religious minority, erupted earlier this month and renewed fears of widespread sectarian violence and attacks against religious minorities.
In a world where terrorists are "freedom fighters" or "militants," we see "massacres" melt away, to be replaced by "sectarian violence". If only these minority groups could get their act together and learn to live with one another so al-Sharaa and his government didn't have to step in and keep the peace!
But Reuters and The New York Times are not framing an accurate narrative.
In a recent edition of Ask Haviv Anything, Haviv Rettig Gur spoke with Rania Fadel Dean, who comes from a prominent Israeli Druze family. Her organization, Covenant, teaches Americans about the Druze community. Dean criticized the prevailing media narrative:
[T]he basic narrative in the international press is that there's this sectarian violence there, you know, this one Middle Eastern tribe and this other Middle Eastern tribe, and you know how it is with Middle Eastern tribes. And so there's a bunch of violence and the Syrian government is coming in to sort it out, and the Israelis are, again, bombing somebody.
The reality is something different. There is a pattern at work that the media fails to explore. She describes Shaara's pattern, referring to him as Julani--his name when he led Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, a terrorist branch of al-Qaeda:
Julani always does that. He sends this HTS forces, or as they call them Kouwa al-Amn al-Aam, which is the security forces. They send them, they do the massacre, and after that he comes. He speaks to the Western media or the Western leaders, and he whispers this: "I can't control them; I have to open a real investigation and everyone who did that will be punished, and we will pay for that."
This pattern was also pointed out in Israel by Gideon Saar:
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These are not isolated incidents, but part of a recurring pattern of abuse tolerated, and at times facilitated, by the authorities. We are now seeing that same pattern extend to violations against Druse communities.The Wall Street Journal gives some concrete details on the extent to which al-Shaara's government exacerbated and facilitated the massacres:
o Hundreds of the armed Arab Bedouin tribesmen who entered Sweida on July 13 successfully passed through dozens of government checkpoints, mostly run by Sunni Muslim forces.o On July 14th, Syria’s Defense Ministry announced the death of at least six of its soldiers after an ambush by “unlawful groups,” a term they use to refer to Druze militias.o On July 19th, Sharaa described the Bedouin tribes in a televised address as “a symbol of noble values and principles,” and went so far as to praise their nationwide mobilization to defend their community. By contrast, in the same speech, he referred to Druze militias as “outlaws.”o Last Friday, Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that his office had documented an attack where “Armed individuals affiliated with the interim authorities deliberately opened fire at a family gathering.”
And some Syrian Druze are even carrying Israeli flags:
It is not clear how long and how far Israel can go to defend the Druze in Syria. Leaders in the West may still be giddy after having visited Syria and shaking al-Shaara's hand. They may be too vested in his taking control and dealing with the various factions and instability--too vested to raise questions on just how much sense it made to give the "former" jihadi leader free rein, and financial support, in war-torn Syria.
But they will always have Israel to criticize.
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"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024) PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022) |
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