From his home in Beit Jann in the hills of the Upper Galilee, former Deputy Foreign Minister Majallie Whbee, an Israeli Druze, is keeping close tabs on the fighting taking place in the Druze villages of Syria. He's worried. Like so many members of Israel’s Druze community, he has relatives across the border there, and they are facing real danger. According to all reports, the Jabal al-Druze region in general and the town of Suwayda in particular are surrounded by fighters from the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra.
As if that was not enough, it seems that within Israel itself, things are starting to spiral out of control. An ambulance carrying wounded Syrian rebels to Israeli hospitals came under attack by Druze residents of the Golan Heights on June 22. The incident ended with the death of one of the wounded Syrians. The reason for the lynching was the rage that local Druze feel about the humanitarian aid that Israel is providing to wounded Jabhat al-Nusra fighters, who are attacking their brothers in Syria.
Whbee, a lieutenant colonel in the reserves, is trying to be a voice of moderation as his community begins to express its outrage. He hopes that the lynching of the wounded fighters in the ambulance remains an exception and outlier. Meanwhile, he's putting everything he has into the struggle to increase awareness in Israel and around the world about the risk of a massacre occurring in the Druze villages of Syria. To do this, he is using his close ties with the highest echelons of Israel’s political leadership and the close ties he has fostered with regional leaders in his capacity as the European Parliament’s wandering ambassador to the Mediterranean states.
In an interview with Al-Monitor, Whbee said that he recently sent a message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior figures in Israel, on behalf of the community in Israel, saying that they must act to help the Syrian Druze. In that message he made it quite clear that the Druze in Israel will not stand by quietly if the worst possible scenario occurs, and the rebel forces attempt to slaughter the Druze community in Syria. “We’re all losing sleep over it,” he emphasized. He also added that according to his knowledge, the rumors concerning Israel's alleged assistance to Jabhat al-Nusra are lies, and part of a disinformation campaign by elements with ulterior motives.
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