Israel should do whatever it can to protect Syria's minorities, not to mention other minorities in the Middle East, and help them achieve self-determination. Not just because it's advantageous, but because it's the right thing to do.
Israel's military actions over the course of the last year have laid waste to Iran and its so-called "Axis of Resistance." It was Israel's decimation of Hezbollah that allowed Syria's rebels to overthrow the Assad regime.
Now that Assad is gone, Syria's minorities are concerned for their future. As well they should be. Syria's new leaders, including Abu Mohammad Al-Julani, who heads Hayat Al-Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), the leading rebel faction, aren't exactly the bunch you would trust to rule with tolerance and respect for the country's non-Arab, non-Muslim citizens. Indeed, HTS was originally an affiliate of al-Qaida, which isn't really known for its tolerance of those who don't share their radical, fascist version of Islam. Al-Julani himself fought for al-Qaida in Iraq. He was arrested by US forces there in 2006 and spent five years in prison. He returned to Syria when the uprising against Assad began in 2011. In 2014, he gave his first televised interview in which he said that Syria should be ruled by Islamic law. Up until last week, the US offered $10 million for information leading to his capture.
Lately, Al-Julani has tried to shed his image as an Islamist terrorist and rebrand his group as a less extreme force. He's even promised to respect the rights of Syria's minorities. But you know what they say, a leopard cannot change his spots. Al-Julani's rebrand is likely a ruse to garner more widespread support from the Syrian people. In fact, promising tolerance is a familiar tactic of Islamists. Ayatollah Khomeini, the father of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, for example, promised to rule with tolerance before establishing an oppressive Islamist regime that tramples over the rights of women and minorities to this day.
Anticipating a bleak future under the new regime, both the Druze and Kurds of Syria have appealed to Israel for help. The Druze in Southern Syria have even gone so far as to ask Israel to annex their territory. Annexation or not, Israel should do its utmost to protect these people as we share a common enemy – Islamist jihadis who would savor the opportunity to park themselves on our northern border.
The Kurds, who now control much of Syria's northeast, are a tempting target for Turkey and its Islamist president, Recep Tayyib Erdogan. Indeed, Turkey has a long history of brutally oppressing the Kurdish people. The same can be said for other countries with large Kurdish populations – Syria, Ir,aq and Iran. In fact, the Kurds are the world's largest stateless group, numbering about 30-40 million. They of all people have the right to their own country.
Turkey is now preparing for a major offensive against Syria's Kurds. Turkish-backed rebels have already taken the city of Manbij in northern Syria and are threatening to overrun the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani, on Syria's border with Turkey. Meanwhile, HTS has taken control of Deir Al-Zor, located in northeastern Syria on the Euphrates River. Fortunately, Syria's Kurds have the support of the US, which gave them weapons and training to defeat ISIS. However, that support may be in jeopardy as President-elect Trump seeks to withdraw US troops from the region.
Israel should do what it can to protect Syria's Kurds, regardless of US support. We and the Kurds are both in danger from Turkey. It's no secret that Erdogan hates Israel. In fact, six months ago, he even threatened to invade the Jewish state, saying, "Just as we entered Karabakh (an enclave in Azerbaijan) and Libya, we will do the same in Israel." Indeed, Erdogan seeks no less than the re-establishment of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey even has the potential to replace Iran as the Middle East's new chief belligerent – a far more dangerous one. The Turks possess a much larger, deadlier military force than Iran. In fact, they have the second-largest military force in NATO, along with advanced weapons supplied by the US. Israel's alliance with the Kurds in the region – not just in Syria, but in Iraq as well – will help in the struggle against our mutual enemies.
Israel should also support other minority groups in the Middle East, particularly in Iran, which is home to numerous ethnic minorities, including Arabs, Azeris, Kurds and Baluchis. These people would be more than happy to be free of the Iranian state, which has severely persecuted them for decades, even before the 1979 Islamic revolution. Helping them fight Iran's mullahs and gain self-determination helps us because we all have the same enemy and would all benefit immensely when that enemy is defeated.
But what kind of support should Israel give to the minorities of Syria and the rest of the Middle East? The answer: Anything, up to and including military aid. Yes, Israel should arm the Kurds, the Druze, the Azeris, the Baluchis and any other group with whom we share a common enemy. In fact, I would argue that Israel has a moral obligation to support these oppressed peoples, because they are fighting for the same thing we, the Jewish people, have been fighting for throughout our history: "To be a free nation in our land," as our national anthem goes.
