‘A Covenant of Blood’ Between Druze and Israel Israel’s moral battle to protect the Druze. by Christine Williams

https://www.frontpagemag.com/a-covenant-of-blood-between-druze-and-israel/

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, “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.