Yosef Haddad: Israel missed historic opportunity to change Middle East

Following reports of a deal struck between the Syrian Druze and Syrian President al-Julani to integrate them into the state, pro-Israel activist Yosef Haddad decried Israel's failure to "change the Middle East" in a post on X today (Tuesday).

In his statement, Haddad said that "We missed an opportunity to change the face of the Middle East!"

He claimed that "There was a real possibility to create an alliance with the Druze in the Golan Heights. Such an alliance could have stood against the Syrian jihadist-Turkish axis that poses a new threat with a risk of spillover toward Jordan, which is our longest border, and add another layer of protection to our border in the Golan Heights.

"The Druze in Syria wanted this and even managed to raise Israeli flags (in the picture I attached, an Israeli flag is proudly displayed last week in the Druze city of As-Suwayda in southern Syria). But while people here hesitated instead of quickly sending teams and seizing the opportunity, al-Julani, who understood the danger from his perspective, hurried to reach an agreement with the Druze. Time was critical here and it was forbidden to hesitate or drag it out!"

Haddad said that "if the State of Israel had a little more understanding of the Middle Eastern mentality and a bit more courage, we would have moved from talk to action, creating this reality de facto, because there was an opportunity to make a quick move here that would have turned us into a regional power. Instead, what we are getting is a new threat from the north under the auspices of Turkey and Erdogan, who dreams of restoring the Ottoman Empire and sees the existence of the State of Israel as something that prevents this!"

Israel did make initial gestures towards the Druze in Southern Syria, even offering to allow them to work within Israel and launching an air strike to protect them against the central government's forces near Damascus. The exact nature of the negotiations remains shrouded in fog.

According to al-Jazeera, Syrian President al-Julani has succeeded in reaching an agreement with the Druze along the lines of his agreement with the Kurds in northern Syria - another ally of Israel - aiming to integrate all minorities into the Syrian state and prevent it from being fragmented along ethnic lines.