{"id":114618,"date":"2024-07-29T17:05:03","date_gmt":"2024-07-29T15:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=114618"},"modified":"2024-07-29T09:04:01","modified_gmt":"2024-07-29T07:04:01","slug":"31-05-55","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=114618","title":{"rendered":"Druze in Israel outraged at Hezbollah massacre of children"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Druze in Israel outraged at Hezbollah massacre of children<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

ETGAR LEFKOVITS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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“Why is Beirut still standing?” townspeople ask ministers at mass funeral.<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

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\nMourners attend the funeral in Majdal Shams of Druze children killed by a Hezbollah rocket fired from Lebanon, July 28, 2024. Photo by Ayal Margolin\/Flash90.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Leaders and members of the Druze community in Israel on Sunday demanded that the government carry out a swift and fierce military response against Hezbollah after it killed 12 children and wounded around 40 others as they played soccer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Saturday evening\u2019s rocket attack on the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights was the deadliest assault on northern Israel since the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization began raining down thousands of missiles, rockets and drones on Israel the day after the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre to the south.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn our view, what happens to the northern Israeli communities is the same thing that should happen to Beirut and the parliament in Beirut,\u201d Yasser Ghadban, chairman of the Forum of Druze Localities, told JNS on Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is high time that the international community unite with Israel against the terrorism the Iranian regime is spreading throughout the Middle East and beyond,\u201d Ghadban said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Former Communications Minister Ayoob Kara, who is Druze and a member of the Likud Party, said, \u201cThis is a golden opportunity which must be seized for Israel to get rid of the menace of Hezbollah terrorism from our northern border.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He noted that Hezbollah denied responsibility for the rocket strike since it did not kill Jews but rather Druze, and as such does not want this to be trigger for a major Israeli response.\u00a0\u201cIf we don\u2019t do it now when Hezbollah is cornered it will be a lament for generations to come,\u201d Kara said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPeople at the scene of the deadly rocket attack at a soccer field in Majdal Shams, the Golan Heights, July 28, 2024. Photo by David Cohen\/Flash90.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Spotlight on the Druze<\/strong><\/h4>\n

A religious sect that began about a thousand years ago in Egypt as an offshoot of Shi\u2019ite Islam, the Druze, who number about one million worldwide, primarily live in Syria, Lebanon and Israel, as well as in smaller communities in Western cities around the globe.<\/span><\/p>\n

The insular and close-knit Druze faith was influenced by the Quran, Christianity and Judaism, as well Greek philosophy and Eastern mysticism, according to the American Druze Foundation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

More than 150,000 Druze live in Israel, representing about 1.6% of the population, according to figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Druze are notably loyal to the country in which they live. Along with members of the smaller Circassian community, Druze Israeli men perform mandatory service in the IDF, where they excel and have long been known for their high rate of enlistment in combat units and careers in the military.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hezbollah\u2019s miscalculation<\/strong><\/h4>\n

While the Druze who live in the Galilee are strongly pro-Israel, some residents of the four Druze villages in the Golan Heights have in the past expressed support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, leading Israeli intelligence to conclude that Hezbollah would not have deliberately targeted Majdal Shams, Kara said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHezbollah made a big mistake,\u201d he added, noting the condolences that poured in from Druze leaders around the region. \u201cThey are afraid that Druze in their countries will turn against them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sectarian strife in Lebanon<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u201cThis attack can cause friction and a sectarian conflict between Hezbollah and the Druze in Lebanon, who see Hezbollah taking over the country,\u201d Tel Aviv University Professor Uzi Rabi told JNS.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last month, an Israeli couple was killed by a Hezbollah rocket elsewhere on the Golan Heights. Tens of thousands of Israelis from northern Israel have been evacuated from their homes for more than nine months due to the attacks from Lebanon.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cIsrael\u2019s image has been eroded in the region since October 7 and it is time to put some teeth with an out-of-the-box response against Lebanese infrastructure that shows that a country that hosts a terror group will pay a high price,\u201d Rabi said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere has always been rifts among the various ethnic groups in Lebanon,\u201d said Tel Aviv University Professor Eyal Zisser. \u201cEach ethnicity hates the other and this will only add to the tension and enmity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Our October 7\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u201cThis was like our October 7,\u201d said Haill Safadi, a Majdal Shams resident whose nephew was at the soccer match at the time of attack but was uninjured.<\/span><\/p>\n

Safadi was at Sunday\u2019s mass funeral for the children, including four from one family.<\/span><\/p>\n

Emotions were raw; villagers accosted Israeli Cabinet ministers who came to pay their respects and shouted: \u201cWhy is Beirut still standing?\u201d and, \u201cIf you\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0respond [to Hezbollah], let us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom our point of view, the Lebanese government has given Hezbollah free rein to kill our children,\u201d Safadi said.\u00a0\u201cHezbollah wants to destroy the State of Israel, and God willing they will be destroyed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Druze in Israel outraged at Hezbollah massacre of children ETGAR LEFKOVITS “Why is Beirut still standing?” townspeople ask ministers at mass funeral. . Mourners attend the funeral in Majdal Shams of Druze children killed by a Hezbollah rocket fired from Lebanon, July 28, 2024. Photo by Ayal Margolin\/Flash90. Leaders and members of the Druze community […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114618"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114618"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114634,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114618\/revisions\/114634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}