Thousands of Druze-Israelis engaged in violent riots on Wednesday in protest of the construction of a wind turbine farm near the town of Majdal Shams in the Ramat HaGolan area of northern Israel.
The Druze are [falsely] claiming that the land in question is private land and are engaging in the second day of violent riots to prove their point, opening live fire at police forces as well as throwing explosives, Molotov cocktails and stones. They also attempted to take over a police station and punctured the tires of police vehicles and set tires on fire.
Over 12 police officers were injured in the violent clashes and at least eight rioters were injured, four seriously. All the main roads in the area were closed due to the riots and tens of thousands of drivers were stuck on the roads for hours.
The mayor of the Israeli-Druze town of Daliyat al-Karmel, Rafik Halabi, told the press that the “protests” could transform into an “intifada” due to the sector’s rage about Israel’s laws.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with leaders of the Druze sector on Tuesday afternoon in an attempt to quell the riots.
Netanyahu later issued a video message sternly condemning the riots, expressing his “full support for the police” and saying that “Israel is a country governed by law.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
An earlier report on another chareidishe blog seemed to suggest that this might be private land. FWIW, it’s not clear that wind farms are always responsible technology without health effects on those nearby. Several years ago, there were similar protests against cell towers near Acco by the ‘toshavim’, and those certainly pose health risks.
…residents fear damage to their properties and landowners have said they did not understand the agreements they signed with a local power company, according to Israeli media.
Hung out with the druse when touring Israel they supposedly hate Arabs was told but they are the same as Palestinian I remember two girls telling me we Jewish already
What is the source that the land isn’t private? If you’re going to put a statement as decisive as “The Druze are [falsely] claiming that the land in question is private land,” I would hope that you would have an ironclad source for that.
Don’t get mixed up. Golan Druze are loyal to Syria. Carmel Druze fight for Israel.
Israel already has the Bedouin and Israeli Arabs as their fifth column. They don’t need yet another.
FLASHBACK: Excerpt from 2014 Har Nof massacre:
Police honor slain Druze officer in tweet
The Israel Police says in a tweet it “bows its head in remembrance of Zidan Saif, 30, who risked his life to save lives and was killed in the terror attack in Jerusalem this (Tuesday) morning. May his memory be blessed.”
Saif was reported to have been the first policeman to reach the scene of Tuesday’s Har Nof attack, and was shot in the head by one of the terrorists.