A military ambulance was speeding along the winding road leading from the Mount Hermon base of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) toward the Golan Heights. It was the evening of June 22, and the ambulance was heading toward the field hospital that the army had set up to treat the flow of wounded from Syria. Along with the Hermon Brigade’s doctor and a medic, the ambulance contained two wounded Syrians in critical condition. The passengers in the ambulance never dreamed of what was waiting for them just around the next bend.
As it approached the large Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, the ambulance encountered a mob of locals, waiting along the side of the road. A clash erupted, and some 150 Druze started throwing rocks at the ambulance. It tried to flee the scene and make its way to the Israeli village of Neve Ativ, but at some point the road was blocked by Druze in all-terrain vehicles. The mob seized control of the ambulance, and the doctor, medic and driver all suffered minor injuries. While reinforcements consisting of IDF officers watched helplessly in the distance, the rioters attacked the wounded passengers. One was killed on the spot, while the other is now lying unconscious and in critical condition at an Israeli hospital. It was the first time that the wounded victims of war were lynched on Israeli territory.
The incident sent shock waves throughout the IDF and Israeli society. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to meet the heads of the Druze community July 24.
At an emergency meeting of the Druze leadership that took place the day after the incident, the participants condemned what happened unanimously. Meanwhile, Israel has intensified its information campaign among the Druze in an effort to convince them that Israel is neither collaborating with nor aiding Jabhat al-Nusra fighters. Nevertheless, many members of the Druze community are convinced that most of the wounded Syrians taken for treatment in Israel are actually members of Jabhat al-Nusra. On June 11, that same group allegedly committed a massacre of Druze in northern Syria, where the community lives along the border with Turkey.
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