For the first time in many decades there has been a mass pilgrimage of members of the Druze community entering Israel to attend mass religious Druze religious celebrations.
The Times of Israel reported:
*Dozens of Syrian Druze clerics crossed into Israel on Friday for their community’s first pilgrimage to a revered shrine since Israel’s creation in 1948.
On board three buses escorted by military vehicles, the clerics crossed the armistice line at Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights and headed to northern Israel.
According to a source close to the group, the delegation of around 60 clerics was due to meet the spiritual leader of Israel’s Druze community, Sheikh Muafak Tarif, in northern Israel.
They then headed to the tomb of Nabi Shuaib near Tiberias in the Galilee -– the most important religious site for the Druze — where they arrived in the evening to pray.
Followers of the esoteric monotheistic faith are mainly divided between Syria, Lebanon and Israel.*
This development may not mean much to anyone unfamiliar with the Middle East but it’s a much bigger deal than it seems. The Druze are mostly integrated into Israeli society and are active in Israel’s military and police and prison systems. The reason that this is a bigger deal than it first might look is that the Israelis are starting to be seen by Druze outside of Israel as potential allies. The Druze need allies especially now when an avowedly jihadi group is now running Syria where many Druze live in Syria’s southern region and where these jihadis are starting to target minorities such as the Druze with violence.
I’m pleased to see this development. The Druze are no threat to the Israelis nor anyone else as far as I can make out but they are threatened by the very same sorts of jihadis in Syria and Lebanon that are also a danger to us in the West.