The tension between Druze and Muslims in Israel has never been expressed as severely and violently as was the case in the village of Abu Snan on Nov. 15. In fact, most Israeli Jews were not even aware of the tremendous animosity that divides the Israeli Druze citizens and the Muslim Arab-Israelis. That all changed with a massive altercation in which about 40 youths were injured, one of whom is in critical condition and eight in serious condition.

Many of those injured in the incident are Muslim and Druze students from the town’s high school. They quarreled on the backdrop of the security tensions prevailing in Israel in recent weeks, and the question of loyalty to the country — an issue that divides Arab society.

It is well known that the members of the Druze sect have tied their fate to the State of Israel. They follow in the footsteps of their leader Sheikh Amin Tarif who passed away more than 20 years ago, and who instructed Druze youth to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) military service, to support the State of Israel and to be worthy of the rights that the state bestows on its citizens. In fact, many individuals in the Druze community acquire a military career in the army’s regular service. In October 2013, a member of the Druze community, Col. Rassan Alian, was appointed Golani Brigade commander. Alian serves as a role model and paradigm for many Druze youth. He was wounded in the Gaza Strip in the course of Operation Protective Edge.

On Nov. 5, Border Police Officer Jidan Assad from the Druze village of Beit Jann was murdered in Jerusalem in a terror attack committed by a resident of East Jerusalem. In the village of Kafr Kana on Nov. 8 policemen shot Khair Hamdan, an Arab youth who waved a knife at them. Thus, while the Druze members mourned the murder of Assad, who left behind his pregnant wife and a 3-year-old child, Israeli Arabs declared a general strike and conducted mass demonstrations in protest of the killing of Hamdan.