On 27 July a barrage of rockets fell on a football field in the largest town in the Golan Heights called Majdal Shams, resulting in the heart-wrenching killing of 12 children and wounding over a dozen more. Although Hezbollah denied its involvement in the attack on the predominantly Druze-inhabited town, Israeli and US intelligence linked it to the Lebanese Shiite militant group. Israel struck back at Lebanon and killed Hezbollah terrorists, including

Fuad Shuker, who was the commander responsible for the 1983 Beirut bombing, which killed 241 American soldiers.

Since the war broke out on 7 October, according to the Israel Defence and Security Forum database, Hezbollah has fired more than 7500 rockets at Israel.

Although most rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome, the militant organization has murdered 25 civilians and 21 Israeli soldiers since the beginning of the war. As a result of the continuous threat of rockets fired by Hezbollah, tens of thousands of Israeli citizens have had to be displaced from their homes in Northern Israel.

Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó resolutely condemned Hezbollah’s rocket attack on Majdal Shams, which murdered several children in an ‘extremely painful way’. ‘Attacks like this are markedly escalating the risk of a cross-border war erupting and engulfing the entire Middle East in flames,’ FM Szijjártó added. The foreign minister also highlighted that amidst the current global security environment, the outbreak of a new war in the Middle East would have dramatic repercussions, which is why the international community must double its efforts in order to avoid the escalation of the crisis in the region.

Israeli Druze Children Were the Victims of the Attack

As a Favs News article highlighted, the victims of the Majdal Shams attack were not Jews or Palestinians but Druze, a small religious sect native to the Levant, and live in Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. At present, around one million Druze live in the Levant, 80 per cent of them around Lebanon and Syria and 10 per cent in Israel. As the article explains, the Druze religion grew out of Ismaili Shia Islam in the 11th century, and evolved into a distinct monotheist religion, which recognizes prophets from all three of the major Abrahamic religions like Muhammad, Jesus, Moses, and their chief prophet Jetro, the father-in-law of Moses. Druze prophets also include figures from Zoroastrianism and Greek philosophy.

Today, the Druze make up about half the population of the Golan Heights. In Israel, unlike Christian and Muslim Israeli Arabs who aren’t obligated to serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF),

the Druze community took on mandatory serving in the IDF in 1957 and ever since have been disproportionately represented in the IDF combat units and officer corps.

In the days following the attack Israeli and international Jewish organizations raised around half a million dollars for the grieving families affected by the horrific attack. Head of the Majdal Shams City Council Dolan Abu Saleh highlighted that the Druze want peace in the region and remarked:

‘If our children…will be the message for peace, then we are really satisfied with that.’

As Former Knesset member and Israeli Druze Ayoob Kara wrote in an X post: ‘The hands soaked in the blood of innocent Druze children compel us to embark on an uncompromising campaign of revenge against Hezbollah and its emissaries from Tehran. Hezbollah’s fear of the Israeli response must be taken advantage of and scorched earth left in the capitals, otherwise it will be a cry for generations.’

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