Col. (res.) Wajdi Sarhan announced a Druze party, Alliance of Brothers, the first of its kind in Israel’s history, on Monday, ahead of the next elections, aiming to provide independent representation for the Druze community in the Knesset.
Sarhan, the party chairperson, is a well-known member of the Druze community who was commander of the Druze battalion in the IDF and fought in the 2006 Lebanon War. He announced the party’s launch at an event in Majdal Shams in northern Israel, where a large Druze population resides.
Eight Druze families lost children in a July 2024 Hezbollah strike on Majdal Shams, in which 12 children were killed while playing soccer, and many more were wounded.
“The time has come to change the equation: to stop dispersing and to unite into an independent force that influences the public agenda,” Sarhan said.
The party estimates that it could gain approximately two Knesset seats and become a significant swing factor in coalition negotiations or political alliances needed to pass the electoral threshold.
Alliance of Brothers will consider merging in strategic alliances while maintaining full political independence, the party added.
General elections in Israel are expected to take place no later than October.
Our contribution to the state is a cornerstone, but our needs were pushed aside
The establishment of the Alliance of Brothers party marks a shift from previous elections, as it seeks to provide the Druze community with independent representation through its own faction rather than relying on the integration of representatives into existing political parties.
The results of the most recent 2022 elections left Druze representation in the Knesset at a low point, with only one Druze member of Knesset, Hamad Amar, who placed sixth on the right-wing Yisrael Beytenu list led by MK Avigdor Liberman.
Although several Zionist parties had included Druze candidates on their lists in those elections, most were placed too low on the lists to secure Knesset seats.
Former MK Ali Salalha placed fourth on the Meretz list, which was a realistic position, but failed to return to the Knesset after the party did not pass the electoral threshold.
Yashar! party leader Gadi Eisenkot pledged last week to place a Druze candidate in a “realistic spot” on his party’s list.
The Druze community is a minority in Israel, alongside Christian and Muslim Arabs.
Most Druze in Israel support Zionist-Jewish political parties, but in the 2022 elections, only 25 percent of Druze voted, according to the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) 2023 Arab Society Statistical Report.
In launching the Alliance of Brothers party, Sarhan said that throughout the years, the Druze community has “carried a painful feeling” with it. He said that the Druze “exert full partnership in duties, but lack justice and rights.”
“Our contribution to the state is a cornerstone, but our needs have been pushed aside,” he added.
“Again and again, promises evaporated after elections, and representatives became rubber stamps under party discipline,” Sarhan noted.
“The time has come to change the equation, to stop dispersing among other parties and to unite into an independent, patriotic, and state-minded force that sets the agenda rather than follows it.”
Source:
www.jpost.com
