Israelis Rally around Devastated Druze Community in the Aftermath of Tragedy

July 30, 2024

by: Yair Krauss ~ Ynetnews

Tuesday, 30 July 2024 | The entire nation is rallying for the Druze community. Close to $530,000 has been donated for the 12 bereaved families from Majdal Shams, whose children were killed over the weekend by a Hezbollah rocket that hit a soccer field in the village. Since the attack, countless citizens have made pilgrimages to the local playground, laying down bouquets of flowers or tying black ribbons to the charred fence, all in an effort to show support for the residents of the Druze village.

Shmuel Hazan, a resident of the Ani’am village in the Golan Heights, also arrived at the shrapnel-strewn site on Monday morning, which had been washed with the blood of dozens injured by the rocket. “This is such a massive tragedy for the families, the village, the Golan, the Druze community, and the people of Israel,” Hazan said. “We are all brothers and one people. We must only strengthen and support each other.”

Since the GiveBack campaign launched online on Sunday, about 6,700 people have donated over $285,000 for the bereaved families and village residents. Yaya Fink, one of the initiators of the fundraising campaign, explained that “80% of the donations will go directly to the bank accounts of the families who lost their children, and 20% will be allocated to strengthening the mental health and community resilience system in Majdal Shams, in coordination with the council.”

Additionally, the heads of the Jewish Agency, the Jewish Federations of North America, and Keren Hayesod have announced immediate emergency assistance of $160,000 to the leaders of the Druze community in Majdal Shams, “to demonstrate solidarity on behalf of the Jewish people and to help provide immediate relief to the circles of trauma they are dealing with in these difficult hours.”

Microsoft and its employees in Israel also announced on Sunday that they would donate more than $70,000 for the grieving families and the Majdal Shams community. “I have no doubt that more organizations and many people from across the country will join us and take action for them,” Michal Braverman-Blumenstyk, CEO of Microsoft Israel, said.

At the Golan Regional Council building, Israeli flags were lowered to half-mast on Sunday, alongside the Druze community flags. Residents of the Jewish communities in northern Golan plan to set out in a massive car convoy to the heart of the village in a show of support on Wednesday. The cars will fly the Druze community flag and a flag that reads in Hebrew and Arabic, “The Golan community is one heart.” They will arrive at the soccer field and lay a wreath in memory of the killed youth.

On Sunday, during the funeral of the children and teenagers, about 100 residents of Kibbutz El-Rom and the surrounding area gathered and supported the funeral participants. “We wanted to pay respects to the murdered children and the pain of our neighbors,” explained Dudi Morad, a member of Kibbutz El-Rom.

At the annual Galilee Conference of the Galilee Development Authority and the Ministry of the Negev and Galilee, which will be held on Tuesday in Acre with the participation of President Isaac Herzog, a memorial ceremony will be held for the children of Majdal Shams.

Posted on July 30, 2024

Source: (This article was originally published by Ynetnews on July 29, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: That's Pretty Good/commons.wikimedia.org

Photo License: Wikimedia