RUTHFULLY YOURS

Israel has not only been protecting virtually every persecuted minority in the Middle East; it has, with the help of US President Donald J. Trump, also been protecting the West itself. Has anyone heard a breath of gratitude? On the contrary, many leaders in the West — most prominently President Emmanuel Macron of France, Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia, followed closely by Prime Minister Micheal Martin of Ireland and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of Norway — have doubled down on the side of terrorists, this time Hamas. Macron’s announcement to recognize a fantasy “Palestinian state” not only demolished the negotiations that were reportedly nearing completion for a ceasefire and the return of the 50 remaining hostages; it also might cause the death by starvation, shooting or explosives possibly strapped to them, of the 20 hostages believed to be alive. In so doing, they are betraying not only the sole tiny country that is sacrificing its own people to protect them, but their own increasingly abused citizens as well.

Israel’s suppression of terrorist entities that, directed by Iran to destroy the Jewish State, has created an additional challenge for the already overburdened Israelis. Not only is Israel now expected to feed the Gazans — human-shield victims of the Hamas terrorist group now trying to destroy Israel — but the Israelis have also undertaken to defend the Druze minority in Syria. The Druze — a small ethnically Arab religious minority that originated as a breakaway from the Ismaili sect of Shia Islam — do not consider themselves Muslim. Therefore, the other Arabs in Syria do not consider them Muslim either. For months, regime “security forces” have been slaughtering them. Islamic terrorists believe that they are obligated to slaughter anyone not Muslim, based on passages in the Qur’an:

“And prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds of war by which you may terrify the enemy of Allah and your enemy and others besides them whom you do not know [but] whom Allah knows.”
— Qur’an 8:60-Sahih International.

“[Remember] when your Lord inspired to the angels, ‘I am with you, so strengthen those who have believed. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieved, so strike [them] upon the necks and strike from them every fingertip.'”
— Qur’an 8:12, Sahih International.

“Kill them wherever you come upon them and drive them out of the places from which they have driven you out.”
— Qur’an 2:191, Sahih International.

This directive also appears to include Muslims who are not Muslim enough, or not Muslim in the “right way,” such as the Ahmadiyya, the Alawites, and historically how Sunnis and Shiites view each other.

The Druze in Syria have been under attack from the forces of Syria’s new strongman, Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly an Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist with a $10 million bounty on his head. Now that he wears a suit and tie, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohamad bin Salman apparently asked US President Donald J. Trump, during his visit to the kingdom, to give al-Sharaa a chance to govern Syria – a request to which Trump appeared uncomfortably to agree.

Something appears wrong with this picture. Al-Sharaa promised Trump that he would protect Syria’s minorities; so far, he seems to be doing everything but that (here, here and here). The situation is increasingly reminiscent of an old Soviet KGB recommendation to just keep telling them what they want to hear, then do anything you want.

Israel, meanwhile, still the region’s “strong horse,” has been acting to protect its Druze neighbors in Syria from relentless savage assaults.

Recent air attacks by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on the newly-installed terrorist regime in Syria persuaded Damascus, at least temporarily, to end its support for the mid-July slaughter of Syrian Druze near the Golan Heights region of Israel. The mass murder by regime-directed local Sunni Bedouins and other Arab tribes was centered in Suwayda, a Syrian region, adjacent to the Israeli border. So much ethnic violence — also against Christians and Alawites in Syria – reveals a seemingly genocidal intent of the new al Sharaa government. It has apparently sponsored ongoing attacks all along the roads from Damascus to Suwayda. These efforts at ethnic cleansing have inspired some Druze leaders to ask for Israeli protection, even annexation.

The Netanyahu administration has emerged as the historic hero of the Druze people, of whom about 150,000 live in Israel. Israel is already favorably disposed to the Druze: they are the only non-Jewish group in the country whose people are drafted into the IDF.

The IDF takedown of Hamas in Gaza, who are backed by Qatar and Iran, has enabled those in the territory opposed to the repressive terrorist group’s rule to publicly protest. Sporadic attempts to reject Hamas have taken place in the past; the largest was staged in March. Hundreds of Gazans demanded that Hamas step down from power. In the latest of these opposition demonstrations, on 21 July, dozens of protestors shouted “Hamas Out.” There is still strong reason to doubt, however, however, if Gazans would be more favorably inclined toward Israel if Hamas were gone.

Last autumn’s IDF’s defeat of another once-vaunted Iranian proxy, Hezbollah, and its military machine, helped to restore the sovereignty of Lebanon. IDF military action was initially designed to permit thousands of Israelis the ability to return to their homes in northern Israel. Israel’s victory over Hezbollah also had unplanned helpful consequences. The many Catholic Christian Maronite villages in southern Lebanon, which Hezbollah militants had deliberately occupied and where they had dug a large network of tunnels, are no longer occupied by Islamic terrorists. Now the Beirut government finally, after decades, has a chance again to govern the entirety of the country, long terrorized by Hezbollah. For years it had boasted of a more powerful military than the Lebanese Armed Forces.

Similarly, the Kurds of Syria, another embattled Mideast minority, are under the gun of al-Sharaa’s backer, Turkey. This regime, run since 2002 by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appears to have ambitions to restore the Ottoman Empie with himself as sultan, has also repeatedly tested US patience by targeting the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), composed mostly of another minority, the Kurds, who inhabit northeast Syria. The Erdoğan government asserts that the SDF’s Kurds are allied with the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), considered by Turkey a terrorist group. Presently, the approximately 2000 US military forces in Syria help protect the SDF’s Kurds who are guarding prison camps that detain tens of thousands of Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists.

US President Donald Trump has intimated on occasion that he might withdraw the US military contingent from Syria – a really terrible idea. The vacuum will simply be filled by groups that are no friends of the US or the West. If Trump follows through on his withdrawal option, this provides an opportunity to safeguard the existence of the Kurds. Would thee IDF have to defend the Kurds as well? There is still another martyred Mideast minority, the much-abused Yazidi people, a minority Kurdish group, also in northern Syria.

Israel is already over-extended in defending virtually every minority in the area – while receiving nothing but opprobrium from most of the insensate media and many in Europe. They seem not to realize that they are the beneficiaries in Israels actions, even as they keep on giving away their continent to newcomers who seem intent on replacing Europe’s values with their own.

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s recent pledge after the atrocities committed against the Druze by Syria-supported terrorist thugs: “We have set forth a clear policy: demilitarization of the region to south of Damascus, from the Golan Heights and to the Druze Mountain area. That’s rule number one. Rule number two is protecting the brothers of our brothers, the Druze at the Druze Mountain.”

Netanyahu’s pledge represent the finest dimension of Jewish ethical principles which should be saluted by those all those who value virtue which should solidify Isarel’s occupation of the moral high ground.

The question remains, however, if Al-Sharaa in Syria is not still just a terrorist, but in a suit and tie.