While in Abu Dhabi, former minister Ayoob Kara discussed Israeli normalization with Iraq, the situation in Syria, and the Israeli and Syrian Druze populations in an interview this week.
Kara, a senior figure in the Druze community, is no longer a politician and holds no official Israeli role.
Nevertheless, the day before, Kara met with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin—considered one of the most powerful figures in the Christian world—and asked him to help de-escalate tensions between French President Emmanuel Macron and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. The goal: to help prevent genocide targeting Christian, Druze, and Alawite minorities in Syria.
Kara was receiving a delegation from Iraq, seeking to promote cooperation with Israel.
“Contrary to all those who raise an eyebrow, and despite the tut-tutting from people on the Right, we are managing to create contact with almost all Arab countries, including states with which we have no formal relations—Libya, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq,” Kara explains. “We sit with people at the highest levels to promote cooperation with Israel.”
An actual delegation from Iraq?
“Yes. They want ties with Israel. They don’t want Iran on their soil and are pressuring me to push the Israeli government and IDF to drive Iran out of Iraq.”
Why would Israel help Iraq?
“The Iron Swords War has done us good. After 75 years during which Arab countries hated us, tried to harm us, and denied us legitimacy, today we are wanted in many places and seen as a legitimate state. The most significant development right now is the shift in Iraq. The Kurds, Sunnis, and Shi’ites want a close relationship with Israel. Some of them are even openly asking for it, not just through covert connections behind the scenes with Israeli representatives. It’s amazing, it’s important, and it mainly signals a shift in the trend of Israel’s relationships with countries once considered its enemies.”
How can Israel assist Iraq?
“Israel has advanced defense technologies that have proven themselves and are sold to friendly countries. These technologies can help protect Iraq and other countries that, like us, want to eliminate Iranian influence from the Middle East. Another thing the Iraqi delegation asked of me is for Israeli support in influencing the United States—that Israel should mobilize against Iran to reduce the threat, not only on Israel but also on Iraq.”
Israel is already fighting Iran—what’s its interest in Iraq specifically?
“When Israel succeeds in fighting Iran, it weakens Iran’s control in Iraq as well. Today, Iraqis also want to be part of the ‘club’ of countries free from Iranian control, like Lebanon and Syria. Israel’s interest is that terrorism doesn’t reach its borders, and that affects the entire Middle East. The religious extremism that leads to terror exists in all Muslim countries in the region, and anyone who wants to be part of the fight against it is helping Israel not just on its borders but on additional fronts as well. This is a dramatic change, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the founding of the State of Israel.”
The delegation from Iraq, along with additional delegations from among the Druze in Syria, minorities in Lebanon, and other countries that Kara does not name, are all received with royal honors by the unofficial Israeli representative in the United Arab Emirates, as part of the “Bridge to Economic Peace” initiative. The initiative was established in cooperation with Americans and Europeans to continue the momentum of the Abraham Accords.
“We’ve been operating since I left the government and the Knesset, doing everything we can to create a dynamic of economic cooperation—because ultimately, economic interests drive relationships, erase hatred, and soften extremism,” explains Kara.
Although the project head is Israeli, the headquarters is based in the UAE, with additional branches in the United States and Romania. Its stated goal is to bring advanced companies and technologies to the Middle East to influence geopolitical processes through economics. Its less openly stated—but even more important—goal is to promote political processes aimed at reducing violence in the region.
Kara’s early vision for the Abraham Accords
Kara says he was the first to believe in the Abraham Accords.
“When I initiated the Abraham Accords, people laughed at me from both the Right and the Left,” he recalls. “Everyone said, ‘He’s dreaming,’ that nothing could move forward without the Palestinians. But I kept pushing the idea even when I was minister for regional cooperation and minister of communications and cyber. I developed a formula: those who are against Iran are with us. Thanks to that, we managed to draw closer to nearly all the anti-Iran Arab countries. My vision was based on the hostility toward Iran in the Arab world, which would eventually lead to the Abraham Accords—and that’s exactly what happened.”
“In a meeting in Washington with Trump’s team, they accepted the idea of the Abraham Accords, including the name, and began promoting it. And when Trump came to Israel, he passed by all the other ministers, stopped next to me, and said, ‘We’re going with your idea.’ This happened because I was the first in the history of the Jewish people to represent the Druze and serve as a bridge between the State of Israel and the sane Arab world.”
Before you, there was the Druze minister Salah Tarif.
“He was a minister without portfolio for a short time.”
You, too, were a minister without portfolio for a while.
“Yes, but Tarif was from the Labor Party, and I’m from Likud.”
Kara’s role with the Druze in Syria
Likud or Labor, Kara is now working to represent the Druze in Syria, who are under threat from a new regime. His situation is especially challenging, given that US President Donald Trump, during his most recent Middle East tour, skipped over Israel but met with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa—also known as Abu Mohammed al-Julani—and was reportedly impressed by him.
“Our tragedy began long before the fall of Assad’s regime in Syria,” Kara says. “Already in the early years of Israel, when the decision was made to establish the state, they didn’t consider the minorities or offer a solution for the Druze who were part of the land of Israel—they were left outside its borders.”
The Druze weren’t always seen as part of the people of Israel.
“The Druze believe in Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law. They built the State of Israel alongside the Jewish people. During the War of Independence, Druze came to fight with Israel. They stayed here, left their families, and fought with the IDF, which at the time was still transitioning from the Haganah, Lehi, and Etzel to a formal army. Since then, the cooperation between the Druze and the State of Israel has deepened. True, there were occasional exceptions—people with their own interests who damaged the good relations—but throughout history, the Druze have paid a heavy price to defend Israel. Even in the case of Israeli spy Eli Cohen, there were two Druze who worked with him, who were caught and executed—and no one even talks about them.”
Still, the largest concentration of Druze is not in Israel.
“There are Druze in Syria, and also in Jordan and Lebanon. There are far more Druze in the diaspora, but after Syria and Lebanon, the largest concentration of the Druze community is in Israel. At one point, the Druze in Syria were loyal to Assad, and I opposed them because Assad was massacring his people, and they were supporting the massacre. They hated me for it, protested against me, because I insisted on bringing thousands of wounded Syrians to Israeli hospitals. But I opposed the Syrian genocide. At one point, the president of Russia, Putin, invited me to dinner, and I told him, ‘Sorry, but I won’t come to dinner with a leader who supports the slaughter of the Syrian people.’”
You said no to Putin?
“Yes. When he came on an official visit to Israel, they organized a festive dinner for him. The Cabinet Secretary called to invite me, and I told him, ‘Tell Putin I’m not coming, because I’m not willing to sit at the same table with someone who supports the genocide in Syria.’”
So were the Druze supporters of [Bashar al] Assad, or are they opposed to Iran?
“Two years ago, the Druze decided to abandon Assad and declared war on foreign forces in Syria, including Hezbollah and Iran. That ended my conflict with them. We aligned, and a relationship began between me and the Druze community in Syria. Today, I’m connected to them like an umbilical cord. Whenever there are international meetings, my name comes up to be part of their delegations to meet with the Americans, the Turks, and the Jordanians. That’s how I became the liaison between the leadership of the various sects in Syria and our own security and government officials. It’s been that way since the fall of Assad and still continues today, as they desperately need our help.”
A warning unheeded and a region in crisis
Did you foresee the Druze catastrophe in Syria?
“Even before Assad’s regime fell, we knew catastrophe was coming. I’ll reveal something: Israel did not oppose the fall of the regime in Syria. Turkey had already received a green light from both the US and Russia, but a Druze delegation came to Israel even before Assad’s fall and met with Israeli and Turkish officials. That delegation stayed at my home, and from them I learned that everything was coordinated—including with Israel—for the fall of Assad and Iran. When Assad’s regime collapsed, we knew we were heading into a risky situation. We feared that al-Sharaa’s men would start massacring civilians, but at first we saw it mainly targeting the Alawites.”
“Little by little, extreme statements began to be made against the Druze as well, because they’re perceived as pro-Israel and pro-Jewish. In Syria, if you say you’re Druze, you’re immediately labeled as an Israel supporter—and in today’s Syria, saying anything positive about Israel means you won’t exist the next morning. So we waited anxiously, and indeed, two weeks ago, the slaughter of Druze began. It happened near Aleppo, because Sweida—the Druze capital—has become the symbol of resistance to al-Sharaa’s regime, which brings together ISIS and al-Qaeda. The problem is that Israel can’t protect the Druze in those towns because they’re mixed communities with citizens from all sects and backgrounds.
In the town near Jaramana in Syria, Druze and Muslims managed to reach an understanding and set up defense patrols that guard the entrances and prevent terrorists from coming in and harming residents. But in other towns, Syrian terrorists entered every home, beheaded people, wounded and killed many. That happened two weeks ago. The women, children and all who managed to escape fled to the Khader area, near the Israeli border under IDF control. The healthy are safe there, and the wounded have been taken to hospitals in the North.”
And what’s happening with everyone else?
“They’re in severe distress. We’re in constant contact with them and are pressuring the authorities in Israel to protect them. I can’t go into detail, but I can say that Israel made sure to transfer equipment and humanitarian aid and other assistance following the massacre, although there’s no official confirmation from the military. Additionally, I met with Alawites in Abu Dhabi, who are being slaughtered in Syria’s coastal cities, and they asked me to deliver a clear message to our government: ‘We want relations with Israel.’”
What does such a message mean?
“They’re asking for Israel to be their solution in the Middle East. They’re not saying in what form, but they know that Israel can provide air support and act on their behalf against the terrorist organizations massacring them. They’re not asking for soldiers—they’ll be the soldiers themselves. They’re simply asking that Israel be the aerial umbrella against the shared enemy. They say that ISIS and religious extremism in Syria will not only act against them, but also against us, all minorities in Syria, and even the moderate Sunni majority. That’s why all the factions in Syria today—the Kurds, Druze, Christians, Ismailis and Yazidis—are in agreement that there’s a common enemy shared with Israel, and that’s why they seek cooperation with the IDF.”
What would that cooperation look like?
“Weapons and air defense. Also, opening the border to Israel so they can work here and export vegetables and fruits to us at good prices. Not just from a security perspective—I think it’s also a great economic idea, because Israel’s economy would benefit from that region, which is rich in agriculture, and this cooperation would push terrorism farther away from our Syrian borders.”
There will still be Arab villages in the area whose loyalties are unclear.
“True, which is why a few days ago I met with Arab leadership and with the former leader of Quneitra, who now manages the area remotely. They all want cooperation with Israel. They’re against al-Sharaa, and although they themselves are Sunni, they have no interest in extremist religious leadership. Unfortunately, one of their leaders finalized a few cooperation agreements with us—and has since disappeared. In other words, they made him disappear. He was seen as an al-Sharaa opponent, and now they’re trying to find a replacement for him, because the majority does not want al-Sharaa. These are people who, in the past, if you even said the word ‘Israel’ to them, they would have been ready to kill you—and today, they’re ready to kill al-Sharaa and join Israel because he has turned Syria from a country of intellectuals into a terrorist state.”
Even though al-Sharaa said he’s changed and has no interest in clashing with Israel?
“He can say it until tomorrow—Arafat said similar things. Did he change from a terrorist into a moderate leader? A terrorist doesn’t change. Terror is in his DNA. Al-Sharaa was in al-Qaeda, then founded his own terror group that mirrors ISIS because of power struggles over money, and now he promises to change—but he hasn’t. The fact that he still keeps his beard shows he’s afraid of all the fundamentalist religious groups. It’s symbolic.
“Secondly, the constitution he’s proposing is based on the Quran instead of a good civil constitution. There’s no proper representation for all sects and minorities in Syria. And at the same time, we’re seeing his terrorists murdering hundreds of civilians every day—dozens executed, burned, tortured, beaten—whether they’re Alawites, Christians, Druze, Kurds, or even Sunnis who oppose his regime. Syria has become a terror state, where everyone does whatever they want, and now even some of al-Sharaa’s own people are fighting against him. Unrest is beginning in the very areas he established and nurtured.”
Last week, during US President Trump’s historic tour of the Middle East, he met with al-Sharaa and also lifted sanctions from Syria. That’s very bad news for the Druze minority.
“I believe Trump won’t betray Israel and the Druze. In my opinion, there’s more going on behind the scenes than we know in those meetings. If it turns out that this is a situation where Trump turned his back on both the Druze and Israel, that would be a betrayal of the Druze public and of Israel—because we all see the developments in southern Syria the same way. In that case, we’ll need to activate the entire Jewish lobby, especially the Republican lobby, against this delusional meeting. I don’t even have the words to express how deeply black that day felt for me when I heard about it.”
Trump didn’t just meet with al-Sharaa—he was impressed by him. He said he’s a tough young guy, a fighter.
“I want to believe that Bin Salman, who I think was the matchmaker for this meeting, made a deal with al-Sharaa that all the terrorism and violence against minorities will stop. That’s the ABC—otherwise Trump wouldn’t have met with him. Will it last in the long term? I don’t know. I’m hearing talk about southern Syria becoming a demilitarized and autonomous zone, similar to the Kurdish region. If that’s true, it’s actually good news—perhaps an agreement was reached even before Trump arrived in the region. Maybe that’s the price for allowing someone who once wore ISIS and al-Qaeda uniforms to now lead that area. If that’s the compromise, I’ll accept it, because it means there won’t be terrorists on Israel’s border.”
Cross-border Druze ties and future prospects
How can the Druze near the Syrian border be helped?
“A road must be paved from the Golan Heights to the city of Sweida and Jabal al-Druze in southern Syria. A solution must also be found for the Sunnis, because there’s a significant Sunni area along the way—but once that’s resolved, the road will greatly help IDF soldiers and security forces operating in the area. Sweida could develop into a thriving autonomous region. The residents there aren’t asking to become Israeli citizens; they want to trade with Israel and cooperate on security and economic levels, like the UAE, Egypt and Jordan. There’s no reason 6,000 workers should come daily from Aqaba to Eilat, while Druze in southern Syria are told they can’t cooperate with ‘the enemy.’”
In northern Syria?
“The same model should be applied there. In the end, interests align, and Israel will gain forward protection through those expected to be on its side, while the Druze will get air defense against any threat. If this works and brings security calm, IDF soldiers won’t even need to be in those areas. As far as I understand, that’s also the Chief of Staff’s idea.”
What about Israeli Druze whose family members are in danger across the border?
“They’re helpless. If the border were open and Israel allowed it, thousands of Israeli Druze would put on uniforms and go defend their brothers from the slaughter in Syria. They wanted to. Many Druze officers signed requests to join the fighting in Syria, but Israel, of course, didn’t allow it. It’s deeply disheartening for the Druze community in Israel. Hundreds go to the Golan border, trying to find ways to help their family members. They send food and hygiene supplies—food containers labeled ‘kosher’ in Hebrew. I was there myself and felt powerless. I stayed the night at the border because it felt better than going home helpless. Because of the cold, I woke up with the flu—and I still haven’t recovered.”
On identity, loyalty, and broken promises
Ayoob Kara’s path has never been an easy one, symbolizing the status of the loyal Druze community in the face of Israeli politics marked by bias and racism. He began his political career in Likud as a young MK, filling the party’s non-Jewish slot. As a right-wing figure, he says he faced political harassment.
“As far as the Knesset is concerned, Druze are expected to be on the Left, not the Right. So the fact that I was in Likud was seen as a threat.”
Kara was born in Daliyat al-Karmel, but studied at agricultural schools and lived with a Jewish couple—Holocaust survivors—who adopted him.
“At the beginning of my political career, the media ridiculed everything I said or proposed. There was this idea that all wisdom was born in north Tel Aviv—but I also grew up with a German-Jewish couple in north Tel Aviv, and my wisdom isn’t just from there. People say the Druze know only how to make labneh and za’atar, but we’re more Israeli than any so-called Israeli patriot. We have hands, brains, and vision no less than any native-born sabra.”
From politics to medicine: Building a field hospital
Kara served in numerous roles, including deputy speaker of the Knesset, minister of communications, and deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, until retiring from politics in 2021. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he promoted a water purification device he obtained in Russia, which led to public ridicule, but remains unapologetic.
“I brought it to Israel, and everyone pounced on me. Another time, I said that Israel would win wars not because of soldiers on the ground, but thanks to technology and robots. For months, they laughed—and now look: Nasrallah was eliminated with the help of AI. No one even thinks to apologize.”
Kara is now focused on building a field hospital on the Syrian border for wounded Druze. “We sat with the health minister and senior Druze leaders and proposed establishing the hospital. We have the ability to help fund it through foreign foundations.”
He says the hospital would be more efficient than bringing wounded Syrians into Israel. “No permits are needed, and many local volunteers would work for free.”
Reflections on leadership and war
Kara believes the government’s handling of the war and the October 7 attacks necessitates a commission of inquiry. “After the greatest disaster in Israel’s history, there are no more parties—only the State of Israel. The fight between Left and Right is the biggest danger.”
But the Likud opposes an inquiry.
“In the end, it will happen. Maybe not in the traditional format, but through consensus. If the Supreme Court appoints the commission, the results will be biased. We need a joint mechanism with the opposition.”
Kara believes the war in Gaza must end through the emergence of alternative leadership and that Israel should prioritize returning hostages, “no matter the cost.”
Why is Netanyahu unwilling to take responsibility?
“He feels they’re trying to topple him. That’s why a neutral inquiry is essential. Those who held power over the last five years—including Netanyahu, Bennett, and Lapid—should not remain in leadership.”
Kara on equality, conscription, and returning to politics
Kara advocates for universal conscription and the end of exemptions for Haredim. “This inequality pains me as a bereaved brother and a disabled IDF veteran. Everyone should serve.”
He also expresses disillusionment with the state of the Knesset. “It has lost its honor. Likud has become a marketplace. Good people are outside, and the unworthy are inside.”
Will you return to politics?
“I’m under pressure to return. I’m popular among Druze, Arabs, and Jews. But with the current group in the Knesset, it’s not an honor. If Likud cleans house and the country truly needs me—I’ll consider it.”
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