Golan Heights Druze increasingly seek Israeli citizenship
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After years of distance, Druze people in the Golan Heights are applying for and receiving Israeli citizenship in greater numbers.
For decades, the 26,000 Druze living in the territory Israel captured from Syria in 1967 largely avoided showing allegiance to Israel, and those who took Israeli nationality faced ostracism. However, attitudes began to change after Israel carried out military strikes in Syria in 2025, intervening in fighting between Druze and Bedouin communities.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the strikes as protecting Syria’s Druze population. This intervention, along with a 2024 missile strike in Majdal Shams that killed 12 children and elicited no response from Syria, prompted many Druze to reconsider their relationship with Israel. Applications for Israeli citizenship have increased sharply, in 2025, 3,750 people applied, compared to 570 the year before.
Today, 45 percent of Druze in the Golan Heights are Israeli citizens, a significant rise from just two percent 40 years ago. This shift is also a generational one, as 91 percent of the Druze population of the Golan Heights was born after Israel’s capture of the territory.
Wael Mugrabi, the mayor of Ein Qiniye, will be the first Druze candidate from the Golan Heights to run in Israel’s legislative elections, and a new school in his town now flies both the Israeli and Druze flags.
