Politics

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today visited the Druze community, on the occasion of the Nabi Shueib holiday, at the home of Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Muafak Tareef in Julis and at the Yad LeBanim building in Daliyat al-Karmel.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said: "There is a natural bond between the Jewish People and the Druze People. The Jewish People are spread throughout the world and the Druze are spread through several countries. Today you are rightly concerned over the fate of your brothers in Syria and Lebanon. We view what is happening in Syria and Lebanon with concern. Syria is splitting apart and Lebanon is unstable. From both places emanate not inconsiderable threats to the State of Israel. In Syria, there are two direct threats – the flow of advanced weapons to terrorist organizations and the attempted infiltration of terrorists across our borders against our communities in the State of Israel. We are prepared to deal with, and are dealing with, both of these issues. The State of Israel is ready to deal with any threat from Syria and Lebanon." In recent years, the Prime Minister's Office has led a series of plans for the benefit of the Druze and Circassian sectors, worth hundreds of millions of shekels.

Among the projects are the establishment of a new Druze community in the western Galilee and the allocation of NIS 681million for the development of Druze and Circassian communities in 2011-2014, the absorption of 57 Druze community imams as state employees, the development of Druze holy sites and a special outline for resolving the electricity problem in the Druze communities.

The aforesaid NIS 681 million plan is operating in various areas: Education – accessibility of higher education, closing gaps in education infrastructures and establishing youth centers; Employment – encouraging the establishment of small and medium-sized businesses, helping working women and developing sources of employment; Industry – encouraging tourist enterprises and developing industrial zones; Transportation – improving municipal transportation infrastructures; and Planning and Housing – assistance in financing infrastructure development in new neighborhoods and strengthening older neighborhoods, and developing community master plans.

There are approximately 125,000 Druze in Israel, in some 20 communities, mostly in hilly areas or in nature reserves, which impedes their development and expansion. The number of Druze serving in the IDF is very high.

Prime Minister Netanyahu began his visit at the home of Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Muafak Tareef – grandson of the late Sheikh Ameen Tareef  in Julis, along with Prime Minister's Office Director-General Harel Locker, MK Hamad Amar, the Mayor of Abu Sinan and Druze and Circassian Mayors' Forum Ali Hazimeh and Julis Mayor Samlan Hanu.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said: "There is a special threefold bond between the Jewish People and the Druze community – in blood, in life and among our peoples. I would like to express the Jewish People's appreciation for those Druze who have fallen in defense of the State of Israel. They were brave and dedicated fighters, and I speak from personal experience. I fought shoulder-to-shoulder with Druze soldiers and commanders, and my late brother fought alongside Druze soldiers who brought honor and security to the State of Israel, and I and the Jewish People will never forget this. This has a special place in my heart and in the heart of the people."

Prime Minister Netanyahu then visited the central memorial to fallen Druze soldiers at the Yad LeBanim building in Daliyat al-Carmel, where he and his Military Secretary, Maj.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, laid a wreath and visited the summer home of Sir Laurence Oliphant, which the latter shared with his secretary, Naftali Herz Imber, the author of Hatikva.

The Oliphant house was recently included in the plan to renovate and strengthen national heritage sites. The house will be renovated and upgraded and include an exhibit on Hatikva, which was apparently written at the site.

The Yad LeBanim memorial (see above) will also be upgraded. Prime Minister Netanyahu gave former MK Sheikh Amal Nasereldeen, the founder of Yad LeBanim's Druze section a certificate recognizing the memorial as a national heritage site.


Prime Minister Netanyahu said: "We are in the bond of life, but we are also in the bond of blood. I came here to give the State of Israel's official and deepest possible expression to our common heritage by declaring this site as a national heritage site. We will invest and develop it accordingly. I think that this is a great thing. We recognize this, first of all, because of the foundations of Zionism that are here, the support of Christian Zionists like Sir Laurence Oliphant, and his secretary, Naftali Herz Imber, who wrote Hatikva here, in this very place. This place has very deep roots."

Prime Minister Netanyahu also met, in Daliyat al-Carmel, with Isfiya resident Radi Kiyouf, who served in the IDF Paratroop Brigade but was critically wounded in southern Lebanon one month before his discharge. He was paralyzes but today uses a ReWalk device, which was presented to US President Barack Obama during his visit to Israel in the framework of a special exhibit on Israeli high-tech and innovation. During the visit, Kiyouf was presented with a Presidential medal as a sign of appreciation, the first to a non-American soldier.