Oft-overlooked Druze see new NIS 3.9 billion plan as step to address old grievances

YARKA — A Druze man stabbed a man to death and wounded four others in Haifa on March 3 in what was at first dubbed a terrorist attack. The event sent waves of shock, fear, and defensiveness among Israeli Druze, who are historically known for their loyalty to the state.

As soon as Eman Atalla heard the news, her first thought was, “This is bad because people will think that the Druze are terrorists,” she told this Times of Israel reporter visiting her home last Tuesday in Yarka, a Druze village in the Western Galilee.

Later on March 3, a police investigation revealed that the perpetrator, Jethro Shaheen, 20, who was shot dead on the scene by a security guard at Haifa’s Lev Hamifratz bus station, struggled with mental illness.

According to Atalla’s oldest daughter, Boshra, “The Druze were all relieved when we found out that it wasn’t a terrorist attack.”

Six days later, on Sunday, in an unrelated turn of events, the government approved a five-year plan worth approximately NIS 3.9 billion ($1.1 billion) to resolve housing and planning issues that have afflicted the Druze and Circassian minorities, who number about 150,000 and 5,000, respectively, in northern Israel.

“I hope that the plan will bring real and practical solutions in the areas of planning and construction and will put an end to this painful issue, which mainly affects the younger generation and members of the security forces,” said Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, head of the Druze community, in a statement.

Defense Minister Israel Katz also announced on Sunday that Israel would soon allow Syrian Druze to enter the country for work, three months after the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria.

“If there is peace and people can come from Syria and earn a living here, that is good for everyone,” said Eman Atalla, who has five daughters and one son.

Druze identity in Israel

There are about one million Druze in the world. In Israel, most live in the north — in the Galilee and the Golan Heights. There are also Druze communities in Syria and Lebanon.

The relationship between Druze and Jews in Israel dates back to before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

“The public should know that the Druze in Israel are full partners in the state, bear the burden of military service, and fulfill their civic duties,” Raid Shanan, the CEO of the Supreme Druze Council in Israel, told The Times of Israel. “This was demonstrated in the strongest way during the October 7 war.”

That war began on October 7, 2023, when over 5,000 Hamas-led terrorists stormed across the border into Israel, murdering some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, while carrying out other atrocities including rape and torture.

In the north, the Iranian-proxy terror group Hezbollah began striking Israel the following day in support of Hamas in Gaza.

Shanan pointed out the war claimed the lives of 14 Druze officers and soldiers and dozens were wounded. Druze civilians were also killed by rocket fire in the north, including 12 children in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights.

“Everyone remembers the massacre at the soccer field,” Shanan said, referring to a Hezbollah attack on July 27, 2024, which killed 12 children and wounded dozens of others in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights.

Israel captured much of the Golan Heights in the 1967 Six Day War. When Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981, it offered all residents — almost all of them Druze — Israeli citizenship, but only a small minority followed through. That number is now up to about 20 percent of Druze, increasing since the Hezbollah attack and the regime change in Syria.

Male Druze citizens have been required to serve in the IDF since 1956. While the community makes up just 2% of the population, the Druze account for 3% of all career soldiers, according to the military, with some achieving very high ranks.

Shanan emphasized the patriotism of Israeli Druze who, he said, “will always do everything for their country and its well-being.”

The contentious nation-state law

The Druze are a mystic sect that broke away from Shiite Islam in the 11th century. Their religion is secret, but they consider the figures of Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed as prophets. However, only the community’s spiritual elders can read the Druze holy texts.

All community members can undergo training to become spiritual elders, but only born Druze can join the Druze religion. There are no converts.

In 2018, the Knesset passed the controversial nation-state law, which states that Israel is the “national home of the Jewish people.” The law is seen by the Druze community — as well as other non-Jewish minorities — as exclusionary.

The year before, the Knesset also passed an amendment to the planning law (known as the Kamenitz law after a Justice Ministry official) to fast-track action against illegal building, without going through the courts. The amendment is widely understood to target the Arab population, where building permits are almost impossible to secure, and Arab citizens therefore build illegally.

In a letter in November 2023, Tarif urged the government and Knesset to amend the nation-state law to “anchor constitutionally the status of the [Druze] community and the rights of its members.”

Tarif has also sought the annulment of demolition orders against structures built without permit in Druze villages if they were built on privately owned land and the cancellation of all fines imposed on Druze people for such construction in the Galilee and the Carmel Mountains.

“There is no doubt that we face many challenges at both the local and regional levels,” Tarif said after the new plan was announced. “And it is only natural that the members and communities of the Druze sector receive everything they are entitled to after so many delays.”

‘Caught in the middle’

A few minutes away from the Atalla family in Yarka, Malak Khizran, 30, sat with this Times of Israel reporter in the living room of her family home, surrounded by olive trees and greenery.

Khizran commutes to work as an English teacher in a Hebrew-speaking elementary school in a Haifa suburb, 26.5 kilometers (17 miles) away. She is a founding member of the Druze Youth Congress, an organization with some 200 members that provides leadership training and other events for young Druze.

In late March, she will travel to London with Together Vouch for Each Other (in Hebrew, B’Yachad Arevim Zeh L’Zeh), the organization started by Yosef Haddad that works to connect the Arab sector to Israeli society.

The mother of two daughters, Khizran said she has spent a lot of time thinking about her identity, especially after the October 7 Hamas massacre.

“At first, I was scared to talk in Arabic because I was afraid that Jews would be angry at me,” she said.

She said she sometimes has felt “caught in the middle.”

“Some Arabs have told me that I’m a traitor because my grandfather, father, and my brother served in the Israeli army,” she said. “On the other hand, I feel that Jews sometimes feel we’re not part of the country.”

When asked about the nation-state law, Khizran said that one idea being floated by the Druze community is to make a special law for the Druze, to recognize their role in Israel.

“Others say the nation-state law should be changed to include equality for everyone,” she said. “These ideas are still being discussed.”

She said that she hopes the new government allocation will “bring real change and support important things like education, housing, and jobs in our community.”

What makes her frustrated, however, she said, is that the Druze community’s “loyalty is known and absolutely obvious.”

“Respect and honor for us is valuable,” Khizran added. “We shouldn’t have to prove ourselves.”

‘Druze pita’

“People don’t know anything about the Druze community besides Druze pita,” Lorena Kizel Khateeb, 28, a Druze journalist and social activist said last week, speaking by telephone to The Times of Israel. “But we are much more than Druze pita. Our women and men are leading in high tech, in education, and every arena.”

Khateeb said the new government plan is “a very important step.”

“The partnership between Israel and the Druze should also be expressed in rights, not just in burdens and obligations on the battlefield,” she said.

Last week, Khateeb spoke at the Knesset about the lack of Arabic-speaking advocates for Israel.

“If you want to talk to the enemy, there is no better way than to talk to them in the language they understand,” she said, stressing the need to improve and to help Arabic speakers to be “in the forefront to defend Israel.”

Khateeb has tens of thousands of followers on various social media accounts, and she will also be part of the delegation to London.

The first time Khateeb went on a student delegation to Europe with other Israeli Arabs and Jews, she was the only Druze. During that trip, she “understood the power of my words, the power of my story as a minority, as a woman, and as an Arabic speaker.”

When she is at home in her village of Kisra-Sumei in the Galilee, she said, she tries “to bring about changes and fight for my community’s rights.”

But outside of Israel, Khateeb said, “I don’t try to say that everything is perfect in Israel. No, Israel, like any other country, is not perfect. But I know the reality on the ground. As a minority woman, I look around at the women in Arab countries and I see how they are being treated. So, outside of Israel, I fight for my country.”

To raise awareness of Druze society, the Education Ministry announced in November a new curriculum, “Druze Society: History, Heritage and Culture” for middle school students to highlight “the historical partnership between the Druze and the State of Israel,” including field trips to Druze communities.

Education Ministry Yoav Kisch said the curriculum would highlight “the courageous Druze society and its deep commitment to the State of Israel.”

“The Druze community is one of the most successful minorities here in Israel,” Khateeb said. “We pay our debts and we should get our rights. And even though we don’t always get our rights, we have the opportunity to fight for them. We are an integral part of Israeli society and we are proud of our identity.”