Two Druze Indicted for Golan Ambulance Attack

Two participants in a Druze attack on an ambulance carrying Syrian rebels, mistakenly believed to be members of an Islamist group, were indicted for murder based on video evidence and witness testimony.

Two Druze residents of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights have been indicted for their role in the lynching of two wounded Syrian rebels being transported by ambulance to an Israeli hospital on June 22. The mob attack resulted in the death of one and severe injury to the other. Police are continuing to investigate, and some 30 people have been arrested.

The Nazareth District Court indicted 48-year-old Bashira Mahmoud and 22-year-old Amal Abu Salah for the murder of one of the Syrians. According to the indictment, Mahmoud “approached the wounded man and hurled large stones at him with great force repeatedly,” while Abu Salah “repeatedly and with great force beat the wounded [man] in his upper body with the intent to kill.” Both assailants, visible in a video of the incident, were also identified by witnesses, including IDF soldiers and paramedics.

The indictment did not include the attempted murder of the second Syrian, who remains hospitalized in Tzfat after numerous surgeries to treat a cracked skull and other injuries sustained.

A day before the assault, in the Upper Galilee Druze village of Horfeish, a similar attack was attempted against a military ambulance. Yusef Samir, 54, and Kamal Amar, 22, have been indicted for endangering lives on a public roadway in connection with that incident.

The lynch mob against the two victims was motivated by the belief that the rebels in the ambulance were affiliated with an Islamist group, such as the Nusra Front. In the weeks beforehand, the Nusra Front was reported to have been involved in killing Druze inside Syria. The Druze have been a periodic target of extermination by Muslim authorities as their religion is an offshoot of Shia Islam,al though the Druze do not consider themselves Muslim. Most recently, they have been targeted by al-Qaeda and its offshoots, including the Nusra Front and ISIS.

Israel’s Druze community has been pushing for the country to take a more active role in protecting their coreligionists inside Syria. Israel is currently providing humanitarian aid, including medical assistance, to Syrian rebels on the condition that they prevent Islamists from approaching Israeli territory and leave the Druze in Syria unharmed.

Although the Druze in the Golan are eligible for Israeli citizenship, fewer than 10 percent have taken it. In recent years, however, the number of citizenship requests has spiked, primarily among Druze youth whose ties to Syria are weak and who have been disheartened by the civil war.

By: Sara Abramowicz, United with Israel