Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Mwafaq Tarif and community leaders in Julis, northern Israel, pledging Israel’s commitment to protect the Druze in Syria while honoring the sacrifice of fallen IDF officer Captain Amir Abdullah Saad.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Julis local council in northern Israel today, and met with the spiritual leader of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Mwafaq Tarif, and with the leaders of the Druze community and Knesset members from the community.
The Prime Minister visited the civil headquarters established in Sheikh Tarif's residential compound to monitor the situation of the Druze in Syria.
In addition, the Prime Minister met with the family of the late Captain Amir Abdullah Saad, who fell in combat in the Gaza Strip. The Prime Minister shared in the family's grief and said that Amir fought with supreme heroism for the security of Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
"At the height of the horrors, when Sheikh Mwafaq Tarif called me and said: 'The Jews in the Holocaust called for help and no one came. Israel must come.' It was like an arrow straight to the heart. Because it is true not only factually, it is also morally true, it is humanly true. And it is especially true in the real connection, not just a declaration, the real deep connection that exists between us. Because we are brothers. Will Israel not reach out to save our Druze brothers? And we acted. When I understood the magnitude of the disaster, we acted immediately.
I am not a naive person. I understand who we are dealing with, what we are dealing with, that is why we used force. I said to President Trump: We both believe in the same idea - we call it peace through strength. First comes strength - then peace will come. That is how it is, certainly in our region but not only. But first of all in our region.
We are currently focusing on three things: Protecting the Druze community in the Sweida district, but not only there, creating a demilitarized zone from the Golan Heights south of Damascus to and including the Sweida district, creating a humanitarian corridor that will allow for the bringing of aid, food, construction materials, everything that is needed. Medical aid on a large scale. These discussions are taking place right now, right now."
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