A Conversation with a Druze

(A real conversation I had in a small town near Haifa in March 2025.)

He says, “When I travel to other countries…you know, I travel a lot… I’ve been to France, Spain, England, Germany… They see my passport, and they say, “Israeli?” Like this, a half question, Israeli? Because they are a little confused, when they look at my name — Jamil — and see my Israeli passport. So, I have to explain it every time; I'm always explaining. I am a Druze. An Israeli Druze. Most of them have never heard of the Druze. So I also need to explain this. That we are a small, ancient minority in the Middle East, and that we follow a version of Islam, our version. They know nothing about it. Most of them don’t even know that there are two million Arabs in Israel who are citizens with all the rights that any citizen has in a democracy.”

“So what do you say when people who have never heard about the Druze ask you how come you live in Israel?”

“I tell them the history. It was back in 1948, when Israel was just formed, that we Druze tied our destiny to the Jews. And since then, we have stayed with the Jews. We work with the Jews. We fight with the Jews. What happens to the Jews happens to us. That's what we decided back then; since then, we stood shoulder to shoulder with our Jewish brothers. We serve in the Israeli army, and we risk our lives for this country – our country. This is how it is. We are aware of our duties and our rights.”

“Speaking of rights,” I say. “Do you ever feel like a second-class citizen?”

“Second class? No. We're citizens, period. But even citizens…How do I say it? Even citizens sometimes don't have all the rights they're entitled to. But even if we don't always get everything, we know what it is, we know we have a right to get it, and we don't give up.”

“So, what do you sometimes not get? Can you give me an example?”

“Okay, I’ll give you an example: I live in Hurfeish, one of seven Druze villages in the north of Israel, near the border with Lebanon. “

“I know.”

“You know? Good! So, I’m married, but my wife and I still live in my parents’ house instead of building our own. I mean, building our own house on our land. Why? I’ll tell you why. Because the state says this land is for planting. You know? For farming, not for building. But it’s our village, so we have the right to build wherever we want. You understand?”

I say, “Yes. I understand. In New York, too, anyone who wants to build a house has to get permission from the Department of Buildings first. And there are all these rules. Here you can build, there you can’t. Or, you can build only one-story houses on this street; you can’t go up, can’t build two or three stories. Zoning laws. That’s what it’s called in America: zoning. Every country has rules like that.”

“Yes, but it’s our land, so it should be our decision.”

“But is anyone taking that land from you?”

“No. No one is taking this land from us. It’s our land, but we can’t build there. Can only farm there. But we have our rights. And we know what they are. And we know that we must persist. If we’re persistent, we’ll get what we need.”

“So, would you say it’s prejudice against the Druze that is the reason the government does not allow you to build on that land?”

“No. It’s just rules. Too many rules. Rules, rules, rules. But we’ll get what we want. It’ll just take time.”

“And what do you think about what happened yesterday, right here in Haifa? When a Druze stabbed several people and killed one, I think? It’s the first terror attack by a Druze, they say.”

“But it’s not what they say it is! He lived in Germany for twenty years, and during that time, he became radicalized. And besides, he is a mental patient! His father says this, and there are records of his hospital stays… Druze are not terrorists! It's an affront to all of us when anyone says, Look, one of you committed an act of terror! Do you know what happens when a mentally unstable person is exposed to a radical ideology? I’ll tell you! This is what happens!”

I say, “I know. Radical ideology is the root of the conflict.”

“Exactly! And everyone who thinks it can be solved by giving them a state of their own is wrong! They’ll take the state, and the terror will continue! Because a piece of this land is not what they want! They want all of it! From the river to the sea – and more! Further! From Sinai to the borders of Iran and Turkey! Westerners can’t understand where terror comes from!”

“Yes,” I say, “In the West, everything has to have a logical reason.”

He says, “Exactly! They can’t understand something irrational. They’ve grown too far from their own Middle Ages. They just don’t get it that some people still live there in their own Middle Ages. Only now it is called jihad. Westerners say that the Palestinians do these horrible things because of the way they are treated, and if Israelis didn’t treat them like this, they wouldn’t do it. And all those Westerners who say this are blind! They don’t understand that it has nothing to do with how they are treated! It has to do with how they are raised! With what’s put into their brains when they’re children! Change the textbooks and give them real teachers – the kinds trained to teach, not indoctrinate them with ideology. First, do that, and then we’ll discuss giving them a state of their own. Because if you provide them with a state without changing their thinking or ideology, it'll be the same thing!”

He says people in the West won’t understand because the media isn't providing a truthful picture. “You know,” he says, “those months when the Houthis were shooting rockets into Israel and people in Tel Aviv and other cities were running into bomb shelters – I was there, I saw it with my own eyes, and the siren – I heard it with my ears, but when I searched mainstream media in English for a mention of these Houthi rocket attacks, there was nothing. Nothing! And only when we started responding did they appear! Every one of them – the BBC, the New York Times, The Guardian – had it on their front page: Israel is attacking the Houthis! Oh-oh, poor Houthis, they didn’t do anything to Israel. Why is the evil Israel attacking the poor, weak Houthis? This is how they operate, you see? They make it look like we’re bullies, that we attack all our neighbors near and far, so naturally, anyone who reads it will think we’re the aggressors, we’re the reason there’s no peace.”

I say, “I like the way you say ‘we’ about Israel. Considering you’re a Druze, not a Jew. This,” I say, “is proof that Israel is not what Israel haters tend to think it is.”

“Yes,” he says. “Now there’s a popular new way of saying it–what do you identify as? I identify as a Druze and an Israeli! So what am I? An Israeli Druze! Because an Israeli doesn’t only mean Jewish! Druze, Jews, Arabs, we’re all Israelis and all brothers! That’s what I say when people ask me these questions when I travel.”

I want to ask him how he felt on October 7, 2023, and what his reaction was, but he seems to have read my mind, so I don’t have to.

“On October 8,” he says, “as soon as we learned of what happened on October 7, I called the headquarters of miluim1, and told them, I'm ready. We all did that. In the days that followed, we waited for a phone call. No matter what we were doing – eating, sleeping, walking – we were all waiting for a phone call because the tension was so great, and only when we got the phone call and we knew when to go in was I relieved, you know? Here, it was my chance to do something! To right the wrong, to do something for the victims. This way, the pain in my chest became a little less! I could sleep again! Even if it meant sleeping at an army base! You understand? That’s the kind of ‘identification’ we Druze and Israeli Arabs have!”

“So basically, you’re saying there’s some discrimination, but you identify as an Israeli anyway–as an Israeli Druze, just as an Israeli Arab identifies as an Israeli Arab. Is that right?”

“No, that’s not right! Not right at all! Go to any hospital – you’ll see that all nurses and doctors are Arab and Druze. Tell me! What discrimination can there be if all doctors and nurses are Arab and Druze?”

“What about Russian doctors?” I say. “Aren’t there a lot of Russian Jews working as doctors? I know many doctors came here back in the seventies and eighties…”

“Well, those who came back then,” he says, “they are retired by now!”

“Well, there were thousands of new ones that came later. But never mind! The gist of what you’re saying is that there’s no discrimination. And even if there is, it’s the kind that you know you can and will get your rights if you persist. So, all those people who scream about apartheid are wrong – there’s no inequality. So, the main problem for those who dislike this country is simply that it exists.”

“There was no state here. They did not destroy another state to build their own. This was one of the few places on earth where there was no state, no government of any kind at that time, and they had roots here, and it was right for them. And they had to build a state to survive as a people. And they succeeded. And thanks to them, we, the Druze and the Israeli Arabs, live in the only democracy in the Middle East. I am a Druze, so ask me: do I want to live in Syria? Lebanon? Iraq? No-no-and-no! I’m very fortunate to be here! And I’m a loyal citizen, like all the Druze; I serve my country well. And it knows that I do.”

I say, “Thank you for this conversation,” and we part.

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Miluim - army reserve service

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