Outside the lines

The harassment of the Druze in Syria by various terrorist organizations creates a military and diplomatic dilemma for Israel.

But more than anything else, it creates a difficult and unprecedented moral dilemma. Israeli Druze spiritual leader Muwafaq Tarif received documents from Israeli officials reporting on the (distant) murderous threat of the Islamic State group and the (nearby) murderous threat of the Nusra Front. The relatively moderate approach of the official Druze leadership to the defense establishment gives the impression that silence is the best move. As they say in the famous movie, "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly": "When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk."

If Israel is going to take action, it must maintain ambiguity and calm. Among other things, the 700,000 Druze in Syria are split. More than half hold the Jabal al-Druze mountainous region in southern Syria (which saw the Great Syrian Revolt in 1925) and have always fit the Assad family regime like a glove. Even now, some of them fight alongside its army in the battle for the nearby military airport.

What do the Druze really want? When and if the time comes to make a tough decision, Israel would need to get an authoritative message about what the united Druze leadership in Syria is looking for. The Israel Defense Forces will not repeat the recklessness of then-Defense Minister Ariel Sharon and IDF Chief of Staff Rafael Eitan, who dragged Prime Minister Menachem Begin into the First Lebanon War in 1982 out of a mistaken assumption and humanitarian decision to save the Christians in Lebanon, who ultimately turned against the IDF.

Publicly, Israel cannot offer the Druze anything besides humanitarian support. The Druze leadership says Israel will help every Jew in the world, and if "all of Israel are responsible for one another," then that should also apply to the Syrian Druze. Still, the Israeli shield for Jews is not absolute. Only if the worst came to Israel's borders would it undertake some humanitarian missions. Israel is not interfering with the civil war in Syria. And the Druze refuse to see themselves as refugees. On Sunday, the head of their pro-Zionist lobby said that they would rather die defending their homes than leave them.

If, despite all this, there will still be a need to evacuate some of the population due to Islamic State's murderous ways, it is clear they will go from Jabal al-Druze to Jordan, either because of the resources the Hashemite kingdom has to absorb refugees, or its geographic proximity.

Israel is watching the war with concern, but is staying outside the lines.

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