Who We Are

From the beginning of the history of the Druze community at the beginning of the 11th century, they were connected with the Land of Israel and this connection has not ceased to this day. The propagators of the new faith that came out of Egypt found them many believers in the mountains of northern Syria, central Lebanon and northern Israel.
There are those who believe and hold that the Druze as a group have been since the creation of the world under the name “Al-Mohdon” who believe in one God, And on the basis of this belief, the beginning of the connection between the Jews and the Druze is attributed to the historical meeting documented in the days of the Prophet Moses and the Prophet Jethro Cohen Medin in the 13th century BC.

In the Bible, we meet with Jethro giving a chapter on the management and leadership of the people, marrying Moses with his daughter, then Moses urging Jethro to immigrate with him to Israel.

The second President of the State of Israel, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, who made connections and was interested in the study of the Druze, claims that there is an old tradition that connects the Jews with the Druze, whether it is an ancient tradition.
Many of the holy tombs are common to the Druze and the Jews according to Ben Zvi, Jethro son-in-law Moshe Rabbi Shimon Shior near the village of Sajur, Rabbi Ushaya near Peki’in, Hushi HaArchi near Yarka, Sablan near Hurfish and Eliyahu Hanavi in Kfar Yassif, tombs are used for members of both communities As a place to be blessed.

In the middle ages
Since the Druze in the Middle Ages became a persecuted minority by the government and the Muslim people, two characteristics can be distinguished from the ties between the Druze and the Jews:

1. The attitude of the Muslim government to each of the two communities influenced the nature of the connection to the two communities was an interest and an existential need to survive within a Muslim world.
2. The dominant factor in the region was not the Muslim government, the two communities found common frameworks and good neighborly relations.

In the Ottoman period
The Druze and the Jews have been associated since ancient times, since the Druze religion drew certain ideas from Judaism (especially from Kabbalah) and likewise Jethro, Moshe’s father-in-law, is accepted by the Druze as their prophet. The Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela wrote of his visit to the city of Sidon in the second half of the 12th century that the Druze “love the Jews.”

During the British Mandate
During the British Mandate, the Druze took a neutral stance on the conflict between Jews and Arabs and did not participate in the events of the 1920s and 1930s. The neutral position of the Druze led the heads of the settlement to address them with a proposal for good neighborliness and normal relations. In particular, Abba Hushi, who worked mainly to cultivate ties with the people of the village of Asfiya, Yosef Nachmani, who worked in the Tiberias area among the villages of Maghar and Hurfish, and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, who made ties with the Druze leaders in the Galilee. Ben-Zvi’s plan included, among other things, offering legal aid to the Druze when needed, and then coming into contact with Druze leaders in Syria and Lebanon.

In the Great Arab Revolt 1939-1936
Most of the Druze were far from the focal points of the Arab revolt and were not affected by the extreme mood of its leaders. Even before that, there were many clashes in the villages involved between the Druze and their neighbors, and especially between them and the Muslims, and the Druze did not take part in the national Arab movement. During the years of the uprising, Because of the knowledge of Druze-Jewish cooperation, Arab gangs hit the Druze. During the riots, the Arab gangs attacked the Druze in Shefar’am and many clashes also took place in the village of Maghar.

In the 1940s
The Druze assisted the Jews as part of the Haganah’s activities in purchasing weapons and ammunition, gathering information and assisting in the operation.
On January 23, 1948, an agreement was reached according to which “the Druze do not participate or initiate an attack on the Jews; the Jews do not attack the Druze. The Druze want to help the Jews by keeping quiet in their area. They need money, support for some supplies, buy missing ammunition.”
But even before the declaration of independence, a Druze troops had been established within the Jewish military force, and in October this company and a Circassian troops had already fought in “Operation Hiram,” in which significant territories in the Galilee were occupied.
The unofficial ties during the British Mandate between the Druze and the Jews paved the way for the acceptance of the Druze and their integration as citizens with equal rights and obligations in the State of Israel.

After the establishment of the State of Israel
When the state was established, about 14.5 thousand Druze lived in Israel. In 1957, the Druze in Israel were officially recognized as a religious community, something they did not enjoy in any other country, and since that year they have served in the IDF. Mandatory infantry battalion, a sword battalion, was also established for this purpose. The proportion of Druze who serve as officers and combatants in the IDF is significantly higher than their relative share of the population. Many senior officers can be found from the community, such as Major General (Res.) Yosef Mishlev, Major General (Res.) Kamil Abu Rokon, Major General Rassan Aliyan, Brigadier General Amal Assad, Brigadier General (Res.) Imad Fares, Brigadier General Munir Amar.
A Druze religious council was established in 1961, and as of 2015 it had sixty Druze clerics (thirty Saisis serving in Druze houses of worship, 15 appointed by Druze local council heads, 15 of whom the Minister of Religious Affairs), the first chairman of the council was Sheikh Amin Tarif.
The Druze enjoy over-representation in the legislature. During the eighteenth Knesset tenure, their representation reached a peak of six Knesset members, two and a half times their share of the population.
The Seventeenth Knesset served as Druze-Israeli MK Majali Wahba as Deputy President for three days, beginning on July 8, 2007, after she took the place of Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik, who was taking his place at the time. Of the incumbent President Moshe Katsav. In doing so, Wahba was briefly acting as the first non-Jewish (Druze) president of the State of Israel.
In 2015 a coin cache was discovered by divers off the coast of Caesarea. The treasure (2,580 coins in total) dating to the 11th century bears mostly the name of the caliph al-Hakim Bamer Allah, one of the most important figures in the founding of the Druze religion.