Watching Empire Strike Back in Syria
Why ignoring the Syrian repression of Druze says everything about the West’s stance towards Israel
(First published on the Times of Israel)
The other day, I watched the BBC report on Syria. Over the headline “at least three killed in Israeli strikes on Damascus,” a harried reporter in a blue helmet stood before a white building engulfed in smoke. He spoke passionately about the recent escalation of violence caused by – you guessed it – Israel. Never did he share that militias supported by the Syrian government were in the midst of massacring the Druze of Sweida. Never did he share that Israel struck the forces attacking the Druze, following Israel’s explicit warning that the Druze were under Israel’s protection. That more than a thousand Druze were killed, or that Israeli Druze were rushing the border in a desperate attempt to aid their kin.
I believe this incident provides a unique opportunity to observe the hegemonic power of the Western elite’s narrative of the Middle East and how much it ignores and distorts to justify its coherence. How it twists events to further a narrative showcasing Israel as the great aggressor in order to avoid topics that would rattle the West’s suppliers in the region. It provides a good example as to what really motivates Western elites when it comes to the region.
Let’s begin with a fact: there is no indigenous Syria. No ancient Syrian people. No modern nation of Syrians who came together to build a state in their name. There’s only been a territory drawn onto a map by a Brit and a Frenchman and ruled by strongmen ever since. When Mr. Sykes and Mr. Picot drew Syria’s borders, they bifurcated families and ruptured nations. One of the peoples who suffered most from this imperialist action was the Druze.
Another fact: the Druze believe they are a holy community and do not allow outmarriages. This means that every life in the community is doubly important: first for its inherent value and second for the fact that the only way to make more Druze is two Druze birthing a third. A final fact for the moment: the Druze believe in reincarnation within their community. A man’s cousin in their eyes may in fact be his grandmother. So when Sykes and Picot and their heirs insist to keep the Druze on the “Syrian” side of the border they are in fact forcibly separating families.
Until now, Druze living in Sweida had expressed their loyalty to the brutal rulers in Syria, partially due to their tradition of serving the temporal power, partially due to fear of reprisal. Yet the recent coup led by Islamists capturing Syria’s government led them to rethink their place. Some, perhaps many at this point, would rather live in or under the protection of Israel – the multiethnic democracy across the border from Syria where Druze are integrated, their way of life protected, where they are well represented in senior political, economic, and even military roles.
That the Druze – a population which traditionally speaks Arabic – would rather live in Israel and be free from the imperial imposition which is Syria is difficult to understand for British, French, or Americans, let alone Russians, or Chinese. Because the elites of these modern-day Empires cannot fathom why anyone would have an issue with the world they’ve carved and set into stone into international agencies such as the United Nations.
After all, today’s imperial elites enjoy the world order. They like that there’s one country called Syria which sits astride oil pipelines and overland supply routes. They’re willing to excuse the loss of millions of lives in civil war to keep it so. They want to avoid Balkanization, that dangerous process by which communities seek independence. Independence causes all sorts of chaos. Chaos is bad for business.
Worse are the self-proclaimed progressives whose opposition to ‘ethno-nationalism’ denies the ancient peoples of the Middle East the post-colonial future they claim to preach. Who deny the Druze what the Greeks, what the Czechs, what the Estonians, what the Dutch and Danes fought so hard to gain. Who can’t grasp that the Arab Muslim Middle East is only Arab and Muslim because of the ongoing violence holding non-Arab, non-Muslim minorities down. The Woke who can’t see that their vision of multi-ethnic republics is a function of Empire, a universalizing faith forcing people into borders not of their choice, under rulers Empires often impose.
In watching the Western reaction to the Druze, we learn a critical truth about Israel: the elite rejection of Israel may have less to do with the Jewish character of the State – less to do with antisemitism – and more to do with the fact that Israel is a living reminder of the limits of the persuasive power of global elites. Of universalism. Of their World Order. Yes, the current government of Israel is conducting a bloody war in Gaza and most Israelis agree that the war should have ended last year. It would be right for the world to be upset at Israel for its part in perpetuating the fighting.
Yet the attacks on the Druze expose the Western bias and make it difficult to take them seriously when they condemn Israel. Because if the West truly cared for the underdog – truly were only speaking up in defense of the defenseless – they’d be rooting for the Druze. Turns out they don’t. Turns out Western elites root for whoever the Oil Kingdoms back. Turns out Western elites are willing to sell the lives of locals in return for the stability of financial markets.
Neither the Jews nor the Druze (nor the Kurds, nor the Baloch, nor the Assyrians) will ever be justified in the eyes of Western elites so long as the West depends on the Oil Kingdoms to maintain its way of life. Only then will we be able to disrupt the narrative that erases the indigeneity of non-Arabs, non-Muslims in their ancient lands. Only then will Israel get a fair shake.
Until that glorious day when humanity will be free from the shackles of Oil, we should focus on building a more formidable force as a counterbalance to Oil interests: an alliance of the Ancients, a standing coalition representing our fellow minorities who, like us, are unwilling to accept the yoke of empire. Who have had enough of the West telling us how to live and who to live under. We must tell each other’s stories independent of the imperial mouthpieces such as the BBC, Al-Jazeera, CNN. And we must do so regularly, consistently, in international forums, in times of peace and war until the elites can no longer hide behind their narrative that just so conveniently ignores us and our justice.
A note to readers: I will be in NY and Chicago over the summer. If you’d like to host me for a talk in your community for a deeper dive into the ideas behind the articles or to moderate a conversation about Israel and Zionism, please be in touch:
I'm not sure if I agree with you, Ariel, but your take on this big story is refreshing and seems well-informed, and makes me want to learn more so that I can decide what to think.