"And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising"

Editorial note: A shorter version of this essay first appeared under the title "One cloud that is all silver lining: Israel and the Druze" in Arutz Sheva - Israel National News on 13 March 2025.

In early December 2024, I urged Israel:

Seize Damascus, for pity's sake. When a jihad army takes control of Damascus, they will slaughter like nothing we have ever seen. Do it for those hapless people, if you cannot do it for yourselves. It is a genocide waiting to happen and you can prevent it.

On 11 March 2025, Stephanie Martin reported: "Christians in Syria Face ‘Potential Genocide,’ Experts Warn After Recent Killings"

Two days earlier, 9 March 2025, Monica Showalter wrote: "Syria's ruling ISIS 'moderates,' hailed by the EU and the swamp, commence slaughtering the Christians"

And the day before that, Sabrina Penty wrote: "Horror in Syria as 'naked women are paraded and shot dead': More than 1,000 killed in just two days as country is gripped by deadly violence between new rulers and Assad loyalists"

The people committing the massacres live on video shouting "Allahu Akbar" are neither Hamas, nor Palestinians. They are Arabs and they are Muslims. Deny this and you are denying facts.

Because Israel did not seize control of Damascus, the reader should not take my warning to imply the slightest Israeli responsibility for the horrors now unfolding in that unfortunate country, reduced to barbarism before our eyes for the sake of Allah. Jihad, however, is something a caliph must initiate, as it is a communal obligation on the Muslims. We do not know whether Al-Jolani has declared a caliphate. Ever since the West took to killing off ISIS caliphs as soon as they were declared, groups with such ambitions have become rather occult about such declarations. Whatever the case, he is unlikely to restrict the butchery now getting underway, lest he fall foul of a Shari'a provision obliging Muslims to topple him if he should do so:

If the caliph alters the Sacred Law [Shari'a] by imposing rules that contravene the provisions of the religion, while believing in the validity of the rules he has imposed—this being unbelief (kufr)—or imposes reprehensible innovations while in office, then he loses his authority and need no longer be obeyed, and it is obligatory for Muslims to rise against him if possible, remove him from office. and install an upright leader in his place. If only some are able, they are obliged to rise up and remove the unbeliever, whether they believe they will succeed or fail. (Reliance of the Traveller, Book O25.3a)

Caliph or not, it is inconceivable that Al-Jolani disapproves of the killing. After all, his feverish mujahideen have scores to settle with the Alawites, and as Napoleon didn't say, never interrupt your enemy while he is killing your enemy, especially if his actions are driving your friends closer to you. All Syrian religious minorities know that the Druze in the South are under Israeli protection. Whether Israel is ready for it or not, they have provided the only place Druze and Christians in fear for their lives can save themselves.

A very smart psychological move on Israel's part would be to get Egypt to deliver 200,000 family-sized caravans to the IDF through the Rafah Crossing, then immediately move all the caravans out through the Kerem Shalom Crossing for inspection in Israel. Once Israel has established that the caravans are safe, give them to the Christians and Druze who will seek refugee in the Druze protected area. All aid that would have been sent into Gaza is sent to these refugees instead. Maximum publicity on all media outlets. Overwhelm the news while finishing the job in Gaza.

One thing has become perfectly clear, whether the Netanyahu government has the stomach for it or not, the Israeli people want this festering sore gone: the Gazans must go; not some of them, not most of them, all of them. It is telling that it takes an almost casual remark by a foreign protector to get the Israeli leadership to start making simpering noises in that direction. Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia, The Congo, Ireland, Norway, Spain… There is no shortage of suggested new homes for the Palestinian Arabs of Gaza. As President Trump’s plan shows, it is not only Israelis who want the Gazans gone, others around the world do, too.

Another thing is clear, no one wants the Gazans in their country. Of all the places suggested, the only likely takers will be those run by corrupt and bankrupt regimes, such as The Congo, where, of course, they will join the currant Muslim genocide of Christians and animists. So far, analysts have considered the kinds of pressure that can be brought on Hamas’s most diehard international supporters: moral pressure on Ireland, Norway, Spain; financial pressure on Egypt and Jordan; military pressure on Qatar; military and diplomatic pressure on Turkey. How many MV Mavi Marmaras does Turkey have? Filled to the gunnels, how many trips would it take?

Dr Mordechai Kedar, who advocates punishing the Qataris for their role in creating the Hamas monster, had great fun working out the logistics of moving the entire Gazan population to the jihad-bankrolling Qatar, where, he says, many facilities from the World Cup stand ready for immediate occupancy. He got the whole operation down to one week, accounting for every seat on every plane in the Qatar Airways fleet, and the airport where the Gazans will board! Temporary facilities might have to be added at Al-Arish, since it can handle only 200 passenger per hour and four planes at a time. While the Qatar Airways suggestion might be tongue in cheek, military transport planes would be feasible. The US airbase must have a few of those. You gotta make a deal. Are there other creative flourishes, hitherto ignored or overlooked?

There have been suggestions of developing an uninhabited island somewhere. Brotherly Indonesia, with some 17,000 islands of which fewer than 1,000 are inhabited, might further its Abraham Accords ambitions by sweetening the deal with an island for the Gazans. The Gazans may even prefer one of the many sub-archipelagos—after all, each clan is an island—where they would be able to put their famous national skill to good use by tunnelling between the islands. That should clinch it.

Yet, the most profitable solution might be closer to home. Murtadd to Human's contribution to the Great Gaza Get-The-Hell-Out Brainstorm is the 25,955 sq Km Jordan panhandle, comprising the eastern portions of Mafraq Governorate and Zarqa Governorate, both areas in the most sparsely-populated part of the Hashemite Kingdom, and unheard of by the outside world until Angelina Jolie went there in 2003. The area is historically associated with the earliest centuries of Christianity, and more recently was meant to be the eastern borderlands of the “national home for the Jewish people”. Land for peace, finally.

Our suggestion is to draw a nominally north-south line 20Km east of Ruwaished from the Syrian to the Saudi borders. For ease of discussion, let's call it the Ruwaished Line. East of this line up to the Iraqi border becomes Jordan's autonomous exclave of, let's call it, New Gaza (7,900 sq Km, 22 times the size of Gaza, or one "West Bank" plus six Gazas), with four international borders, none of which is Israel. The amount of construction alone will keep all Palestinian Arabs busy for a (natural) lifetime. The exclave should be a godsend for both Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom. Imagine the aid Jordan can rake in for getting rid of a troublesome population it soured on long ago. Another huge advantage is the unlikelihood of either Jerad Kushner or Steve Witkoff being interested.

If you're going to dream, dream big. West of the Ruwaished Line lies an autonomous Christian Protectorate of Israel, extending to the western end of the panhandle, just to the east of Azraq beyond which lies Jordan proper. This new homeland for Christians fleeing Syria forms a buffer between the Gazans and Jordan proper, as well as between Iran/Iraq and Jordan/Israel. The northern border of this new Christian Protectorate is the southern border of the de facto Druze Protectorate that Israel is establishing in southern Syria, providing Israel with a contiguous area of free movement from the Mediterranean to the Saudi northern border, at the same time surrounding Jordan's main population centres on three sides, you know, just in case.

Regional vulnerable peoples other than the Druze are watching, not least the Christians of Egypt, and see the sense in close physical proximity to Israel. The final chapter in the story of the Sinai is yet to be written. Yazidis, Bahai'is and Zoroastrians, former Muslims, too, will gravitate to, or at least towards, the Jewish state, if not physically, then temperamentally. Israel's true role in the Middle East is materialising before our eyes. She senses it, but still hesitates. Indications are that this hesitation can be overcome.

The vulnerable peoples of the region seek the protection of her sword and her shield. And when the cries of war finally go quiet, it is her light from which they will draw sustenance and be fulfilled at long, long last. "And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising," Isiah 60:3. It is a role that demands confidence and a sense of responsibility. The responsibility of the strong towards the weak. Now is not the time for doubt.

Picture credit:

Google maps as base for own work.