Anger And Resentment In Druze Community Following Hezbollah Rocket Attack

Hezbollah’s rocket attack on July 27 claimed the lives of 12 children in Majdal Shams, a village lying next to Israel’s border with Syria’s Golan Heights. Today, the last of those children was laid to rest in the Druze town, one day after his playmates’ funerals and burial.

Eleven year-old Gevara Ebraheem was laid to rest as hundreds of mourners joined the funeral. On October 15, just days after the deadly attack by Hamas terrorists on Israel last year, the boy posted on Facebook that “we don’t want war, we want to live in peace.” Ebraheem is survived by his parents and a brother. He had been listed as missing for 24 hours after the afternoon attack on a soccer field in the border town. The Iranian-made rocket was fired from Lebanese territory by the allied Hezbollah (Allah’s Army), making impact before the children could take cover. Approximately 40 others were injured, some critically, by the blast.

On July 28, anger and sadness gripped the Druze community of Majdal Shams as black flags waved there and surrounding Druze villages Buq’ata and Mas’ada. Thousands of visiting mourners thronged to the town and wore mourning clothes. This was the deadliest terrorist attack on Israel since October 7 of last year.

Israel’s security cabinet convened on an emergency basis with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the evening of July 28. Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant were empowered by the cabinet to take necessary retaliation for Hezbollah’s strike. On July 29, Gallant made his second visit to Majdal Shams, telling mourners: “To me, there’s no difference between a Jewish child who was murdered in the south of Israel on October 7 and a Druze child who was murdered in the Golan Heights. It’s the same thing, these are our children.” Gallant said, “We will do everything to restore security and let life continue as it should. Hezbollah will pay a price for this – our actions will speak volumes.”

On the evening of July 28, Israel’s air force conducted bombing raids on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. An Israeli drone strike claimed the life of a Hezbollah operative also. The strikes were on Hezbollah weapons sites and infrastructure, Lebanon’s foreign minister asked the U.S. to blunt the Israeli response, which did not reach the level some had feared. 

Fears of a wider war were piqued again on July 28 when Turkey’s Foreign Ministry compared Israeli PM Netanyahu to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, compounding Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s threat to invade Israel. “The end of the genocidal Hitler will be the same as the end of the genocidal Netanyahu. Just as the genocidal Nazis were held accountable, so will those who try to destroy the Palestinians. Humanity will stand by the Palestinians. You will not be able to destroy the Palestinians,” the Foreign Ministry tweeted. 

According to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, which has been adopted by more than 40 United Nations member states,making such a comparison is anti-Semitic. “We must be very strong so that Israel can’t do these ridiculous things to Palestine. Just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we might do similarly to them,” Erdoğan said, according to Reuters. “There is no reason why we cannot do this,” he added. “We must be strong so that we can take these steps.”

“In 2020, Turkey sent military personnel to Libya in support of the United Nations-recognized Government of National Accord of Libya,” Erdogan said. He added, “Turkey has denied any direct role in Azerbaijan’s military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh, but said last year it was using ‘all means,’ including military training and modernization, to support its close ally.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan praised Erdoğan on July 28, tweeting: “Our President has become the voice of humanity’s conscience. International Zionist circles, especially Israel, who want to suppress this rightful voice are in a great panic. History has ended the same way for all genocidal people and their supporters.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned the Turkish leader, “Erdoğan follows in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein and threatens to attack Israel,” Katz wrote. “Just let him remember what happened there and how it ended.” 

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib has said he received reassurances from third countries that Israel’s response to the strike will be limited, dropping hints that the United States and France are two of those countries. Iran has warned against “any new adventures” aimed at Lebanon, while Bou Habib said his country will not get involved in a war, but will stand behind Hezbollah. Bou Habib warned that Syria, Iraq, and Yemen might also become involved in a wider conflict. Yemen’s Houthi rebels have already fired missiles and conducted drone raids on Israel in the last few months. 

The tit-for-tat fighting between Israel and Hezbollah since October 7 has claimed at least 300 lives in Lebanon and approximately two dozen in Israelis.