JERUSALEM, Israel – The ceasefire in Syria is on the brink of collapse after reports of mass atrocities against the Druze. Meanwhile, tensions are running high in Judea and Samaria, with conflicting narratives about Jewish residents and acts of violence.
In Syria’s Sweida province, the ceasefire is rapidly deteriorating. More than 1,000 civilians have been killed – mostly Druze, but also Christians. Among the dead: Pastor Khaled Mzher of the Good Shepherd Evangelical Church, murdered along with his entire extended family by pro-regime jihadist militias in As-Suwayda. The atrocity has mobilized outrage across Israel’s 150,000-strong Druze community, many of whom are demanding action.
Saleh Rafa Majdal, an Israeli Druze, told CBN News, “I can’t stay still watching. My relatives, my people, have been slaughtered without doing anything. I know I don’t have military experience, but at least I will do what I can to help my people.”
Israel has responded with emergency medical aid, and the military has also continued sporadic airstrikes in defense of the beleaguered Druze in Sweida. But Muslim countries like Turkey are condemning Israel’s involvement.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan intoned, “I want to state this once again clearly and directly, Israel is a lawless, unruly, unprincipled, spoiled, pampered, and desperate terrorist state.”
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In Judea and Samaria, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visited the Christian village of Taybeh this weekend after fires damaged its ancient church and cemetery. Some say the fires were started by Arabs targeting Israeli farmland—but local leaders continue to blame Jewish settlers.
Huckabee said he was there “(To express) solidarity with the people who just want to live their lives in peace, to be able to go to their own land, to be able to go to their place of worship.”
Theophilos III, Patriarch of Jerusalem, stated, “Simple people, farmers are under attack from those radical groups that they take the law into their own hands and do all sorts of things.”
However, Jewish community leaders argue that accusations of violence are exaggerated. They say their communities are the ones under constant threat.
Naomi Kahn, international director of the research think tank Regavim, noted, “The Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria are victimized, constantly bombarded, constantly, by Arab terrorism and violence. And in response to the level of violence perpetrated by Jews, although it is unfortunately not zero, and it should be, and we’re working on getting it to zero, in comparison to the number of people in the population, it’s something like 0.056.”
Israelis living in Judea and Samaria say many of the reported “attacks” on Palestinians are simply Jews defending themselves from Palestinian-initiated violence. But the UN reports it as such because they have an agenda.
Kahn told us, “By undermining the legitimacy of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, you clear the way for creating a Palestinian state and you undermine the settlers and you essentially tarnish the moral standing of Israel’s army.”
With Syria’s ceasefire crumbling and both narratives and tensions flaring across Judea and Samaria, the region looks headed into another volatile and unpredictable week.
