Christians bring comfort to Druze families two years after Hezbollah killed 12 children in Majdal Shams

Christians from Korean non-profit Love 153 have been visiting sites and communities in Israel impacted by the war that began on Oct. 7, 2023, moved by the exhortation to "Comfort My people," found in Isaiah 40. They recently made the trip up to a Druze village in the north that lost 12 children in a rocket attack two years ago.

It was one of the saddest stories from the war that has been raging around Israel over the last three years: Twelve children aged from 10-20 from Majdal Shams near Israel’s border with Lebanon were killed on July 27, 2024, when a Hezbollah rocket hit a football field where they were playing. Dozens more were wounded. 

Rabia Abu Saleh, father of Amir who was killed in the attack, said, “There is not a day that we do not hear our child's voice since that day. But we chose not to sink into loss, but to continue to live, to love. The pain transcends any religion, gender or language. In the memory of our children, we are all together.” 

The devastation has hit hard, with reports that there are fewer weddings, fewer joyous occasions and even that nursing mothers found their milk running dry with grief. 

The Israel-based non-profit has sent delegations to visit the bereaved families at the community center four times, taking gifts and kind words, and singing songs of comfort.

“It was just a very, very sad story,” said Joyce Jung, who coordinated the visits. “But most of the parents really wanted to talk. They wanted to share the story. They wanted their children's story to be alive.”

In a turn of events no one could have planned, it transpired that one of the children had been passionate about the country of Korea, making the visit even more meaningful.

“All of them are so beautiful, and the one girl, she looked like such a beautiful princess, and she happened to love Korea so much. 
One of her dreams was to go to Korea,” Jung related. “So for us as Koreans to come there, somehow it comforted our mother so much.”

Jung also told ALL ISRAEL NEWS that one of the bereaved fathers had two sons who had been playing at the field that fateful day. 

“He was a first responder,” said Jung. “When the siren rang, he knew, right away. He went to the soccer field, and one of his sons was lost. It was just terrible. Then he needed to help the other son, and it was just very, very hard. 
A heartbreaking story, but all of them were very strong.”

The Druze village has had more than its fair share of devastation in the war with Iran and its proxies. The sight of 12 white caskets taken to their graves, along with the more recent death of Master Sgt. Maher Khatar, who gave his life serving in the IDF earlier this year, has shattered the community.

“The lives of our dear and holy children will never be forgotten,” vowed Majdal Shams Council head, Dolan Abu Saleh. “The pain does not let up, but from it is born responsibility, action and community resilience.” 

Galya Hall and Venera Orozalieva of Christian Friends of Israel (CFI) also went to Majdal Shams following the Druze massacre in Suwayda in southern Syria last year. They described their visit as a deliberate act of Christian solidarity. 

“Even though the world is silent, while their people are being brutally massacred and slaughtered, we see, and we care, and we speak up against it,” said Hall.

“It's about visiting them in the hotels when they were displaced for a year and a half. Yes, providing them with practical needs, but also just sitting together, drinking a coffee together, not even talking, just listening, just being there for them, being friends.”

The families still keep their children's clothes and photos displayed as testimony to the community’s loss and also the suffering of fellow Druze communities who have been under attack on the other side of the border.

“They feel double pain now because of the situation in Syria and Suwayda,” said Hall.

“There’s no protests for the Druze,” she noted. “There’s no protest for the Christians in Nigeria…there’s no protests about the actual starvation and famine that takes place and is taking place in Yemen. Nobody talks about it. Why? Why is there selective outrage always against Israel?” 

While the Druze residents witnessed an outpouring of love and support from Israelis, the silence from overseas has been surprising. The tragedy highlighted the important place the Druze have in Israeli society, but also the disinterest the world has in a story about Arab Israelis affected by the conflict. 

A BBC headline announced, “Eleven dead in rocket attack on Israeli-occupied Golan,” obfuscating both the identity of those sending the rockets and those murdered by it. The casual reader may easily assume that an Israeli rocket had killed Lebanese or Syrian Arabs, rather than understanding that Hezbollah terrorists had killed Druze Israelis.

While the international community may have been conspicuously quiet, Love 153, CFI and other Christian organizations such as Passages Israel have made a point of standing in solidarity with the people of Majdal Shams. 

The group that gathered to receive the delegation from Love 153 treated the group to Druze hospitality and were eager for them to return. 

“They were so happy we came,” said Jung. “It was beautiful.”