Druze

An Israeli Merkava tank parked between Medinat al-Salam and Khan Arnabeh in Quneitra province, Syria, Jan. 5, 2025. (Tareq al-Salameh)

In southern Syria, a violent new Israeli occupation emerges

Israeli forces have advanced miles into Syrian territory — confiscating land and homes, killing farmers, and seeking to divide the region's diverse population.

By Tareq al-Salameh April 10, 2025

Residents celebrate the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, in Majdal Shams, Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, December 9, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

For Syrians in the Golan, Assad’s fall sparks hope and uncertainty

Residents of the occupied Jawlan celebrated the regime's collapse, but remain wary amid political instability and further Israeli encroachment inside Syria.

By Baker Zoubi December 13, 2024

Mourners attend the funeral of children killed by an airstrike in Majdal Shams, occupied Golan Heights, July 29, 2024. (Oren Ziv)

‘The Golan won’t accept any killing or regional war in our victims’ names’

Israel’s exploitation of a rocket attack in Majdal Shams is the latest chapter of the Syrian Jawlan's ‘forgotten occupation,’ says activist Wael Tarabieh.

By Mariam Farah August 16, 2024

Latest

Attorneys arrive to the Supreme Court for a hearing on petitions put forth against the Jewish Nation-State Law, Jerusalem, December 22, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Nation-State Law had its day in court, as did the farce of Israeli democracy

During the hearing, the High Court justices saw no problem with demoting the status of Arabic and claimed that 'equality' is something best left for the future.

By Orly Noy December 24, 2020

An Israeli military police officer checks entry permits of Palestinians on a bus crossing the Allenby Bridge into Israel. (Moshe Milner/GPO)

What would Israelis do if Palestinians disappeared overnight?

Ibtisam Azem speaks to +972 about how, with the sudden vanishing of ‘the enemy’ in her newly-translated novel, she confronts some of the darkest chapters of Israel's history.

By Natasha Roth-Rowland November 11, 2019

Kamal Zidan and his grandmother pose for a photo before he presented himself at the Israeli army induction base. (Courtesy of the Zidan family)

Druze draft refuser sent to Israeli military prison, put in solitary

Druze-Arab men, unlike other Arab citizens of Israel, are subject to the same mandatory conscription as Jewish Israelis. Kamal Zidan is refusing because of his Palestinian identity. Kamal Zidan, an Arab-Druze citizen of Israel, presented himself at the Israeli army’s Tel HaShomer induction based last Sunday and declared that he refuses to be conscripted into the…

By Rami Younis April 22, 2019

Members of the Druze community in the Golan Heights protest the decision of President Donald Trump to recognize Israeli sovereignty in the territory, Majdal Shams, March 23, 2019. (Basel Awidat/Flash90)

Talk of Golan annexation leaves out those expelled from it

President Trump’s recognition of Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights has been widely celebrated by Israelis. But do those same Israelis know of the hundreds of thousands of people expelled from the territory during the 1967 war? By Tom Pessah The vast majority of Israelis are still unaware that over 130,000 residents of the Golan Heights were expelled from…

By +972 Magazine March 24, 2019

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked arrives to cast her vote during the party's preliminary elections, in Jerusalem, on April 27, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israel’s justice minister wishes a happy Eid al-Adha — to Druze only

Ayelet Shaked sends a heartfelt message to the Druze community in Israel and across the world on the first day of Eid al-Adha, leaving out over a billion Muslims. By Oren Ziv More than 1.8 million Muslims are celebratuing Eid al-Adha, the “Festival of Sacrifice,” around the world this week. Social networks are full of non-Muslims — including Jews and…

By Oren Ziv August 22, 2018

Elders of the Israeli Druze community are seen at a mass protest against the 'Jewish Nation-State law' in Rabin Square, Tel Aviv, August 4, 2018. (Gili Yaari/Flash90)

What spurred Israel’s Druze to demand equality now?

For most of Israel’s minority groups, the Jewish Nation-State Law was far from surprising. But for many Druze citizens, who for decades have served in the military, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Eman Safady, like many Druze citizens of Israel, felt personally betrayed by the Jewish Nation-State Law. A journalist from…

By Henriette Chacar August 7, 2018

Tens of thousands of protesters joined the Druze community in rejecting the Jewish Nation-State Law at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv on August 5, 2018. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Tens of thousands of Druze protest for equality in Tel Aviv

Demonstrators filled Rabin Square in Tel Aviv on Saturday to protest the Jewish Nation-State Law and demand full equality. Will that be enough to pressure Netanyahu to backtrack? By Meron Rapoport Could it be that the “Israeli state” was born in Tel Aviv’s central square Saturday night? Perhaps it’s a bit early to say, but if…

By +972 Magazine August 5, 2018

Shaykh Muwaffak Tarif, spiritual leader of the Israeli Druze community, attends a conference of the Zionist Druze Movement in Herzliya, July 16, 2018. (Flash90)

How Israel betrayed its most loyal minority

The Nation-State Law, which enshrines supremacy for Jews in Israel, has made it clear to the country’s Druze population that we are not equals. So why don’t we demand it be abolished completely? By Dalia Halabi The Jewish Nation-State Law has been a watershed moment for Israel’s Druze population and its relationship to the Jewish state and its institutions. The law clearly states that…

By +972 Magazine July 29, 2018

Druze villagers threshing corn in Majdak Shams, Golan Heights, 1967. (Moshe Milner/GPO)

The Syrian refugees Israelis prefer to forget

As opposed to Palestinian refugees, the fate of the Syrians expelled from the Golan Heights by Israel in 1967 was covered up and hidden from public awareness. Even today, most Israelis believe the area was largely empty of Syrians, and anyone who may have been there fled voluntarily. By Irit Gal Among the Syrian refugees fleeing their burning country…

By Haokets July 18, 2017

Soldiers and relatives mourn at the grave of Israeli Sergeant Banaya Rubel during his funeral on July 20, 2014 in Holon, Israel. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

I was IDF property for three years — today I’m traumatized

Every time I hear about another Druze who refuses to go to the army, I think about how he won’t have to suffer. He will avoid the trauma of becoming the human property of the IDF. By Fayez Abu Hayeh “Soldier, straighten up!” It was 2 a.m., I was lying on the ground, my backpack under me. The commander…

By +972 Magazine February 19, 2017