The Druze local council of Yanuh-Jat in the Western Galilee is usually a modest and hidden place, but when the war broke out on 7 October, there was no doubt that it would send its best sons to the front.
IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy at the "For the Boys" race in memory of the Druze fighters who fell in Israel's battles // IDF Spokesperson
In addition to the regular soldiers, more than 480 fighters from the community joined the front line with Order 8. So far, the Galilee Council, which has 7,000 residents, has sacrificed two senior officers and decorated fighters – the deputy commander of the 300th Brigade, the late Lt. Col. Alim Saad, and the commander of the 53rd Armored Battalion, Lt. Col. Salman Habka.
"My son was killed in the south, while Alim was killed on the Lebanese border," said Imad Habka, Salman's father. "Alim was supposed to be released two days after he was killed. He could have said, 'There are other soldiers,' but he took a weapon and went into battle. Loyalty, courage, heroism. Same thing my son. On October 7, we planned a surprise party for his mother's birthday. This morning he received a message from the brigade commander that something was happening in the south. Get dressed, call the driver and say 'passengers'. Salman rushed to the Tze'elim camp, meanwhile contacted soldiers and commanders and asked them to locate the best tanks for fighting at the base. "A tank travels, talks, fires," as he put it.
"Alim was supposed to be released two days after he was killed," Photo: Yossi Zeliger
"Then he went down to help at Kibbutz Be'eri. Fighters who came to console them said that if he had not performed, most of them would have died. On 2 November, inside Gaza, as always, he went to help a Golani force in trouble. They gave them a serious blow of fire, saved lives, and when he got out of the tank a mortar hit him, shrapnel got under his armpit and penetrated his heart. I knew there were casualties in war, but I never imagined it would reach me, my eldest son, who was expecting greatness."
"Putting everything aside, we are at war"
Not far away, in the office of the head of the council, sits Modi Saad, Alim's cousin. From the window of his office, one can clearly see the northern border and the war zone in Lebanon. "Last week I had Benny Gantz who said, 'I'm moving the bureau here, I want to conduct the war from here.' Alim was killed on the line near Aramsha-Adamit. If the terrorist squad he had stopped had succeeded in the operation, do you know what would have happened? What you saw in Gaza was Peanuts, because the terrorists had a huge amount of ammunition on them.
"At the funeral, after we finished, one jumped up and said, 'I want to talk.' He said that he was chairman of the community committee in Aramshe and told those present, 'We owe our lives to the leaves, and we have come to say thank you.' The hug we just received is amazing. The people are with us, the problem is with the government. The time has come for the token to fall to our Jewish brothers and for them to understand who has their backs and who will hurry to stick a knife in their back."
Yanuh-Jat, Photo: Yossi Zeliger
On the day we visited, the head of the council was particularly nervous. "We have approval to build 328 housing units, mainly for discharged soldiers, but in order to market we need an inspection report from the Israel Land Authority," he said after finishing another phone call. "Only what, her supervisors won't come in to us, they say, 'Only with the escort of the Special Patrol Unit or the police.' We are a Druze community, shame on you. I demanded that Prime Minister Netanyahu announce right now that he is changing the Nation-State Law in favor of Druze and non-Jewish soldiers in order to raise morale, and the Kaminitz Law to blow away Kibinimat."
The Kaminitz Law, which is intended to increase enforcement and punishment against construction offenses, has stuck like a bone in the Druze community for years. "Two weeks ago, I had a guy whose house was demolished eight years ago because he didn't have a permit," says the head of the council. "I see him all grease and oil and jokingly ask, 'And you're still doing reserve duty?' He replied: 'At this time everything is put aside, we're at war.' Look at the nobility, we are not considerate of the state."
In addition to the regular soldiers, more than 480 fighters from the community joined the front line with Order 8. Yanuh-Jat, Photo: Yossi Zeliger
Even in Alaim's home, the lack of building space caused his family to go to court and to painful proceedings. "My heart burns, and still today one of my sons is in reserve duty and I have grandchildren who serve on the northern border and in Gaza. Even now I say that as much as we give, we can give more," says Salman, Alim's father. "But if you're willing to give, you also have to receive. I built on my land, on my land, and they continue with courts and fines."
Salman, 79, is not in good health, and when talking about leaves, he sheds a tear and says that his middle son was the one who always cared for him. "Sometimes when you lose something you say, 'There's nothing, I'll gain from another direction,' but Ben is a loss for life — and I lost everything," he sighs.
"The heart burns." Salman and Hila Saad, Photo: Yossi Zeliger
Continue to project strengths
The Druze community in Israel numbers about 150,<> people who have been walking around for a long time with full stomachs. In the middle of the fighting, it was Welfare Minister Yaakov Margi who proposed amending the Nation-State Law, as part of the reconciliation process and the understanding that their contribution required a change in status.
"It hurts that we wait for the days of mourning and only then open the files that weigh on us," said Imad Habeqa, Salman's father. "I don't like this politics, but all those who supported the Nation-State Law came to console us and no one mentioned it next to us. After all, they see us sending our best sons, they know that we are partners in all wars, and everyone says, 'The Druze in battle are lions,' so why was it necessary to enact such laws from the beginning?"
Not far from the father sat Sari Saif, Salman's cousin and best friend. The two built their home next to each other, but while Salman was a fighter who saw his future in the army, Sari studied at the Technion and now works at Intel.
"It all starts with homeschooling," Sari says. "From the age of zero, we were educated on love of our homeland and not only to contribute but to feel a part, and in my little experience I always felt that I looked people in the eye. But when it came to the level that decides, it wasn't reflected. In 2014, there was a terrorist attack in the synagogue in Jerusalem, and our cousin from the second circle is the late policeman Zidan Seif. Zidan was at the end of his shift and did not hesitate for a moment, he went out to save people and was killed. At his funeral, crowds came and repeated the slogans 'We are a covenant of life and not a blood covenant,' but after the waters calmed down, everything returned to normal."
"Maybe it took more than 450 Druze martyrs to treat us as equals." Sari Seef, Photo: Yossi Zeliger
Do you have an explanation for this?
"In the past two weeks I have been hearing the words 'wrong conception' about how we perceived Hamas before the war. Apparently, this is also a misconception inwardly. We need to change our thinking about our place in society. I am Druze-Israeli-Arab. In the army, when I would return to uniform, they would smile at me, but after I was discharged, and because I have an Arab appearance, they tend to look at me with a suspicious eye until they understand who I am. Maybe it took more than 450 Druze martyrs to treat us as equals."
Sari says that when he had to make difficult decisions, it was always his father and Salman who showed him the way. "I feel I need to continue to broadcast the strengths that were in Salman," he says. "His messages didn't come from a casual place. He thought deeply and believed in them. I can't fix the world, but it's my duty to make our voices heard."
Mohab and Imad Habka, with a photo of their son Salman, photo: Yossi Zeliger
On one day of the fighting, Salman sent a recorded message to a friend: "Amen that everyone will return safe and sound with the upper hand, that the abductees and captives return to their parents, that the fighters embrace their families, and that we will all be as we have always been a strong and leading people, the most nurtured and developing country, and that we will only be in the right places. We will go and do what is necessary in the right, professional and lethal manner, and we will return to embrace you all."
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us