Druze expel Israeli ministers from funeral of children killed in Golan Heights

The Druze community in Majd al Shams, located in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, protested the presence of Israeli ministers at the funeral of the victims of the rocket attack that killed 12 people, Sabah reported.

Israel linked the attack to Lebanon's Hezbollah, but Hezbollah denied any involvement in the tragedy. When Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich arrived at the funeral, relatives of the victims began to chase him out of the ceremony.

“Get out of here, criminal. "We don't want to see you in the Golan," shouted one of the mourners. Other members of the government - the Minister of Environment Idit Silman, the Minister of Economy Nir Barkat and the Minister of Energy Eli Cohen were also met in the same way.

"Don't come. Considering the sensitivity of this issue, we ask you not to turn this tragedy into a political event. We demand to be given the opportunity to hold a peaceful funeral according to Druze traditions," the community leaders wrote in their appeal to the Israeli government.

The Druze are Arabs who first belonged to the Ismaili branch of the Shia sect, but separated from them in the 11th century and founded a separate direction of Druzism. Their number is 1.5 million in the world, and about 150 thousand in Israel. In 1957, after Israel declared the Druze a separate religious denomination, at the request of the community leaders, the Druze gained rights such as serving in the Israeli army and voting for Ksennet.