Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Sunday, at a conference of Druze and Circassian local authority heads held at the Dead Sea, to protect the lives of members of the Druze community in Syria.
“The most important mission is to safeguard lives … I am committed to bringing all the strength and all the power of the State of Israel to this sacred mission, because you bring the strength and the power to our alliance,” the Prime Minister’s Office quoted Netanyahu as saying at the event. “I see [the alliance reflected] in the brave soldiers. I see it in the bereaved families that tear at my heart. I see it in the endless display of heroism by Druze fighters and commanders. And I have been committed to this from a very young age—these are not just words.”
Israel’s longest-serving prime minister said that the Jews and Druze “are brothers. This is not a cliché, not empty rhetoric; it comes from the depths of my heart, and it also guides our fighters and our pilots, and it will continue to guide us. There are also things that have not yet been done and must be done. The Druze and the Circassians are brothers—brothers do not abandon one another!”
Netanyahu attended the conference with his staff, along with the head of the Federation of Local Authorities in Israel, Haim Bibas; the spiritual leader of the Israeli Druze community, Sheikh Muafak Tarif; chairman of the Druze and Circassian Local Authorities Forum; head of the Kisra-Sumei council, Yasser Gadbaan; and other local authority leaders, according to the PMO.
