Israel revives the colonialist strategy of strengthening minorities in the region

What do they have in common? the Syrian AlawitesWhat about the Iraqi and Syrian Kurds, and the Syrian and Lebanese Druze? All of them are ethnic or religious minorities in predominantly Sunni countries, with the exception of the complex case of Lebanon. But they also have something else in common: this week, delegates from these minorities met "to discuss the future" with Israeli representatives, and they did so publicly in Tel Aviv.

The visible organizer of the meeting was Edy Cohen, a Jewish Israeli born in Beirut, a scholar of the Middle East with a strong Zionist leaning. The Tel Aviv meeting has had some local impact, as Hebrew media outlets have interviewed some of the participants, highlighting Israel's interest in maintaining a close relationship with the minorities of the Middle East. After all, the Jewish state also considers itself a minority in the region.

The title of the meeting was precisely "The Future of Minorities in the Middle East," and one of the key topics was Iran. Iran is Israel's quintessential declared enemy, so it's natural that Cohen placed this issue high on the agenda. In Israel, they believe Tehran seeks to destabilize and dominate the entire region, while in Tehran, they believe the exact opposite.

It's clear that Israel organizes an event like this because it intends to gain something from it, and the same can be said of the other participants. A good relationship with the Alawites, the Druze, or the Syrian Kurds allows Israel to maintain a foothold in Syria, or more than one. In fact, this is what we've been seeing for some time now, with more or less sizable elements and groups from these minorities—not all minorities—defending the interests of the Jewish state in Syria.

One problem we've been seeing in recent months regarding Israeli interference with the Syrian Druze is that Israel claims to support them, but in reality This provokes a direct confrontation between the Druze and the government From Damascus, a situation that is being repeated, for the moment on a smaller scale, with the Alawites and the Kurds.

A colonialist strategy

It is clear that there is manipulation of minorities, but this is not new. Colonial powers have applied this same strategy whenever they could. The Syrian case can illustrate this. The French fostered minorities during their rule before World War II. If Hafez al-Assad came to rule Syria, it was precisely because he belonged to the Alawite minority, and the French supported this minority politically and militarily in its fight against the Sunni majority. The French promoted a military academy in the center of the country where the students were mostly from the Alawite, Druze, and Kurdish minorities. Hafez al-Assad pursued his military career at that academy, as a member of a minority, and was well-positioned when the time came to decide to seize power. Now we see that The Sunnis have taken power in SyriaFollowing the flight to Russia of Bashar al-Assad, son of Hafez al-Assad, the Sunni majority, currently moderately religious, controls Damascus, though not the entire country. French interference had political consequences in Syria for many decades, but ultimately power has returned to the majority. It seems that Israel now wants to repeat the French experience and is therefore encouraging the minorities.