Middle East Monitor / July 29, 2024
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was chased out of the funeral of the 12 Syrian Druze children killed in a rocket attack on Saturday. Angry locals accused the cabinet minister of being responsible for the death of their children, saying he came to ‘dance on their children’s blood’. Israel says a Hezbollah missile struck the occupied territory, a claim the Lebanese group denies. This latest event has sparked fears of a wider Israeli assault on Lebanon.
Mourners protested the participation of Israeli ministers in the funeral of 12 people killed in a rocket attack in the Israeli occupied Golan Heights on Saturday, Anadolu reported.
Israel has linked the attack on a football pitch in the Druze town of Majdal Shams to Lebanon’s Hezbollah group. However the group denies the claim.
Footage aired by Israeli media showed mourners protesting the presence of Israeli ministers, including far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, at the funeral.
“Get out of here, you criminal. We don’t want you in the Golan,” one protester shouted at Smotrich.
Environment Protection Minister Idit Silman, Economy Minister Nir Barkat and Energy Minister Eli Cohen faced similar protests.
According to the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, the Druze Authorities Forum sent a letter to Israeli government ministers requesting that they not attend the funeral.
“Do not come. Given the sensitivity of the situation, we ask not to turn this massacre into a political event. We demand a quiet religious funeral according to Druze customs,” read the letter.
In a statement on Saturday, the Lebanese Hezbollah categorically denied “allegations made by Israeli enemy media outlets about targeting the town of Majdal Shams in the occupied Syrian Golan.”
Fears have grown about a full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah amid an exchange of cross-border attacks between the two sides.
The escalation comes against the backdrop of a deadly Israeli onslaught on Gaza, which has killed more than 39,300 Palestinians since October.
__________
The strategic truth revealed by the Majdal Shams operation
Nidal Adaileh
Middle East Monitor / July 29, 2024
Majdal Shams is the largest village in the Syrian Golan Heights. It is located on the southern slope of Mount Hermon and is currently under Israeli occupation. The village is approximately 1,200 metres above sea level.
During Ottoman rule, Majdal Shams, along with the rest of the Balan region, belonged to the Mount Lebanon Governorate, Rashaya District. After the French mandate, it became part of the Damascus Governorate in Syria, and after Syria’s independence, the village became part of the Quneitra Governorate.
Israel occupied the Golan Heights during the 1967 war, including Majdal Shams, and the village is still under Israeli occupation. From 1967 until 1982, Majdal Shams was under Israeli military rule, and since 1982 it has been under civilian rule due to the illegal decision by Israel to annex the Golan Heights.
The occupation state built Jewish settlements on occupied Syrian territory, all of which are illegal under international law. Although the people living in 163 villages and farms were displaced, Majdal Shams remained. Around 500,000 Syrians were driven out of their homes across the occupied Golan.
Large crowds from the occupied Syrian Arab Golan and Palestinian Israeli citizens from the territories occupied in 1948 yesterday mourned the 12 people killed by a missile attack on Majdal Shams. They included children, and all were from the local Druze community.
Some Israeli ministers tried to attend the funerals but the crowd made it clear that they were not welcome. Aside from ministers Nir Barkat, Idit Silman and Yoav Kish, the extreme far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich heard shouts of “Get out of here, you criminal. We don’t want you in the Golan.”
The families of the victims called on the Israeli ministers not to exploit the attack that took place in Majdal Shams for political goals and an Israeli agenda, The Druze leadership in the Golan and the bereaved families asked Israeli government ministers not to attend the funeral at the People’s House in the village.
Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the Majdal Shams incident. However, statements by Zionist officials indicate that the occupation state is looking to use the incident as an excuse to launch a full-scale war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
An attack such as that in Majdal Shams has not happened before. Hezbollah is not known for targeting civilians directly. There are two military bases close to Majdal Shams, and Israel’s feted Iron Dome missile defence system did not intercept what the occupation army claims was a missile launched from southern Lebanon.
The Zionists are trying to find a justification for war that coincides with the ongoing diplomatic process in Rome for a ceasefire in Gaza. They want to restore the deterrence factor that Hezbollah had broken, and to restore air superiority after the militia penetrated the airspace of the northern occupied territories 33 times using drones for aerial reconnaissance of strategic areas.
It is my belief that the Israeli occupation army committed a false flag attack on Majdal Shams intentionally, hence the oncoming missile was not picked up and destroyed by iron Dome. Why? A massacre like this serves Israeli warmongering interests, especially those of Netanyahu and his far-right coalition government, which seeks to prolong and expand the war on the northern front.
Nidal Adaileh is a Jordan-based writer and journalist
