Druze play up links with those across border as they hope for Israel to open gate

Salim Safadi, a relative of one of the 12 Majdal Shams children killed in a Hezbollah rocket attack a year ago, is among the many Druze gathered at Israel’s border fence with Syria in hopes authorities will open a gate and allow Syrians to enter and families to reunite.

“The Druze are one people and we are waiting to hear if the gate will open so our people can come in,” he tells The Times of Israel.

The IDF says it is not allowing Syrian Druze to enter Israel, but acknowledges that some may have slipped through without permission.

A man and his son who crossed into Syria yesterday and have since returned to Israel say they did so not to fight, but rather to see Hader and help put pressure on Israel and the US to take action against Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.

“Sharaa said there is a new Syria but it didn’t happen. He is ISIS,” the man says, calling those on the Syrian side of the border “brothers and sisters.”

Another man who also asks for anonymity says the mother of his girlfriend, who left Syria for Israel when she got married and has not seen her family since, entered Syria yesterday just to see them again. He expresses appreciation for Israel’s military actions against the Syrian regime to protect the Druze.

“Israel wasn’t going to start bombing right away, but there were so many bonds between the Jews and the Druze and the government took this step and stopped the slaughter,” he says.