Recently, the Druze community in Syria has come under vicious attack by extremist Sunni factions – remnants of the same forces that once aligned themselves with ISIS and now seek to assert their will under new banners.
While the immediate cause was a false audio recording pinned on a Druze cleric, the truth runs deeper: This is yet another case of a minority being targeted for erasure in the shadows of global silence.
The Israeli government must act – not just out of loyalty to our Druze brothers and sisters, though that alone would be reason enough. The Druze have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with us for generations, serving in the IDF, burying their sons beside ours, and building this country alongside us.
But our responsibility does not stem solely from shared uniforms and flags. It comes from a deeper recognition that we live in a symbiotic region, where violence left unchecked becomes a virus that spreads.
We must stop thinking that what happens “there” won’t one day happen “here.” The Middle East doesn’t grant us that luxury. The genocide committed by ISIS against the Yazidis in 2014 wasn’t just a distant humanitarian tragedy – it was a precedent.
Israel must take a clear, unequivocal stand
The world’s failure to prevent or punish it permitted Hamas to dream bigger, to dig deeper, and to unleash the horrors of October 7 on Israeli civilians. The ideology is the same—only the geography changes.
“If you tolerate this, then your children will be next” is not just a powerful line from a song – it’s a warning. One we dare not ignore.
Israel must take a clear, unequivocal stand. That means offering direct aid to the Druze, using our diplomatic weight to mobilize international pressure, and – if necessary – providing arms and deploying measured military deterrence to prevent a massacre.
We have the moral authority and the military capability.
What we need now is the will, not only because it is the moral choice not to be a bystander, but because, if we tolerate this, then we and our children will be next.
The writer is the CEO of the IDF Widows and Orphans Organization, the official Israeli nonprofit supporting the families of Israel’s fallen soldiers and security personnel.