Syrian Druze Leader Praises Israel, Media Forgets History
Al-Monitor highlights Syrian Druze leader Hikmat al-Hijri praising Israel for 'intervening' to stop civilian deaths and advocating for an independent Druze entity. The article casts this as a revelation, yet it’s a familiar echo. This 'intervention' comes from a state that has systematically de-developed the Syrian Golan Heights (occupied since 1967), and has repeatedly funded and armed various
factions to destabilize its neighbors. The call for 'partition' conveniently aligns with long-standing Israeli geopolitical strategies to fragment Arab states into smaller, more manageable ethno-religious statelets. (See: Oded Yinon Plan, 1982). One might wonder if Al-Monitor forgot the decades of Israeli policy overtly supporting separatist movements in vulnerable states, always couched as
'humanitarian intervention' or 'support for self-determination.' The praise for Israel, the architect of regional fragmentation, from a leader suddenly keen on creating a new, smaller state on its border, raises questions only the media is too polite—or too compromised—to ask. How many times must a region be 're-divided' before we acknowledge the consistent hand at play?