When I was in Israel in May this year, I was fortunate to experience a traditional dinner in the home of a Druze family and learn more about their unique culture and religion. It was one of many highlights on what was a profound trip.
As I write, reports out of Syria indicate that the Druze there are being systematically slaughtered by the interim Syrian government along with elements of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), who are pushing into the area, led by former al-Qaeda commander Abu Mohammad al-Julani. Many Middle Eastern political commentators describe regime forces and HTS as barely disguised jihadists, or ‘Islamists in suits’. Druze social media accounts have shared extensive footage of the massacre, including the elderly, women and children; scores of men shaven against their will in a bloody desecration of their religiously grown moustaches. Innocent civilians are being intentionally hunted and butchered, their bodies lining the corridors of local hospitals. Hundreds have now lost their lives.
There are around 20,000 Druze living in Australia and about 150,000 in Israel.
The Druze are an indigenous, Arab minority in the Levant. Like Jews, unless attacked, they are a people who overwhelmingly live in peace within their respective countries (mainly Lebanon, Israel, and Syria). Druze are being targeted in large part because they are a significant, non-Islamic minority – one of the last – in Syria. However, their persecution seems to be of little concern to the international community.
While the current atrocities against the Druze call for urgent attention in their own right, they also illuminate the dangerous blind spot of the Western Left when it comes to the Middle East. Since the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the Western Left have explained their deep investment in the Israel/Gaza conflict through the prism of humanitarianism – apparently, they are simply interested in protecting innocent (Arab) lives. A noble cause, to be sure. But if this is truly the motivation, why then aren’t they speaking out about the current persecution of the Druze? Or indeed, any other persecution in the Middle East – or anywhere else for that matter? It is high time this question is not just asked of, but properly answered by, the Western Left. The burden of proof should be on them to justify their selective interest.
If it were only the Druze that had somehow missed the microscopic gaze of the Western Left (including its media and politicians), it might be plausible to hold to the humanitarian argument. While the Western Left looks the other way, violent Islamic extremism has taken far more lives in the Middle East in the last two decades alone than the entire Israel/Palestine conflict, even counting combined Arab-Jewish bloodshed as far back as the 1920s, prior to the formation of Israel in 1948.
The only country to intervene in the current attack on the Druze is … you guessed it … Israel.
In mid-July, Israel launched targeted airstrikes against Syrian government military positions in Damascus and southern Syria, near Suwayda and Daraa. The IDF stated that the strikes were intended to halt the massacres. The Israeli Ministry of Defence described it as a ‘limited humanitarian intervention’ aimed at protecting Druze populations, many of whom have familial and religious ties to Druze communities in northern Israel and the Golan Heights. While Israeli Prime Minister, Benyamin Netanyahu, has announced that Syrian forces have retreated to Damascus, reports of ongoing violence continue.
In response to Israeli action, the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, condemned Israel’s airstrikes, calling them ‘violations of Syria’s sovereignty’ and urged Israel to stop – protecting a persecuted minority. The Western Left is generally aligned with UN positioning on matters of Middle East international relations. Yet the Australian Druze community has thanked Israel for its intervention and called on the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, to make a statement. To date, they have not.
The Western Left’s obsession with the Israel/Palestine conflict, versus their lack of comparable interest in any other conflict or humanitarian situation demonstrates that ‘humanitarianism’ is merely being used to cloak a millennia-old pastime – Jewish scapegoating, and ultimately, persecution. Every generation or so, the West becomes entirely obsessed with Jews, convinced that they are the major evil of the world, whether focused on religion in medieval times, race in pre-second world war Germany, or now in current times, nation-state and military action. Every time, the underlying reason is the same and yet only becomes clear to the obsessive in hindsight. That is why we will see a continued focus on Israel and its actions and ongoing support for the Pro-Palestinian movement, coupled with historically high rates of antisemitism in Western nations.
The Druze, not being in conflict with Jews, will sadly remain ignored.
