{"id":179857,"date":"2025-08-20T11:15:52","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T08:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/?p=179857"},"modified":"2025-08-20T11:57:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T08:57:38","slug":"remembering_jawad_amer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blognli2026.moonsite.co.il\/en\/remembering_jawad_amer\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Jawad Amer: The War’s First Fallen Druze Soldier"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Just after midnight on Monday, October 2, 2023, Jawad Amer returned to his family\u2019s home in the Galilee village of Hurfeish. The 23-year-old was exhausted after a long flight back from a three-week trip to the western United States. He kissed his mother Rashida and his older brother Nabih goodnight and went to bed. A sergeant-major, Amer would be heading back to his army base nearby the next morning for his last week of service before being discharged, so he said he\u2019d catch up with them, his sister and another brother the following Monday and fill them in on Las Vegas, San Francisco and the other marvelous places he\u2019d visited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he awoke, he went with his father Akram to a medical appointment and for breakfast. They then drove to his base. Akram kissed his son goodbye at about 10:00 a.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Amers never saw Jawad again.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Jawadamer\"
Akram and Nabih Amer holding a picture of Jawad, photo by Hillel Kuttler<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

War broke out on the Shabbat of October 7 when Hamas invaded Israel\u2019s western Negev from the Gaza Strip, and Jawad was told he\u2019d be kept on duty another month. On Sunday, the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah opened another war front by launching missiles at Israel\u2019s north. On Monday the 9th, the day the family planned to gather to hear all about his vacation, Jawad Amer was killed by a Hezbollah bullet along the border with Lebanon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was the first Druze soldier killed in the ongoing, nearly two-year war. As of August 19, 14 Druze Israelis have fallen in battle since October 7, 2023 \u2014 451 since the first, in 1937. And 12 Druze children were killed on July 27, 2024, by a Hezbollah-launched missile that struck a soccer field in the Druze town of Majdal Shams (population 12,000) in the Golan Heights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Druze Israelis are among the country\u2019s most loyal and accomplished citizens. They\u2019ve been drafted into the Israel Defense Forces since 1956, when Druze leaders persuaded Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion that their military duty should be compulsory, not voluntary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Druze are an ethnicity and also a religion that branched off from Islam more than a millennium ago. Even its adherents state that the group\u2019s religious precepts are esoteric and secretive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"14138
The Tomb of Nabi Shu\u2019ayb is a sacred site in the Druze religion. Shu’ayb is identified with the biblical Jethro, whom the Druze view as a prophet. The tomb is a pilgrimage site, located at Hittin (Hattin) in the eastern Galilee, and welcoming visitors throughout the year, principally on the festival of Nabi Shu’ayb. Photo<\/a> by Yoni Salinger, 1985, the Dan Hadani Archive, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection at the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Approximately 150,000 Druze live in Israel, constituting 1.5 percent of the population. A million or so Druze live in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, with another 2,000 residing in the United States and England.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"18856
A Druze bride and groom cross the border from Israel into Syria with relatives, 1990. Photo<\/a> by Berta Hamizrachi, the Dan Hadani Archive, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection at the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

They tend to marry other Druze, and few leave the faith or intermarry. Most in Israel reside in predominantly Druze villages in the Galilee, the Mount Carmel region and the Golan Heights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nnl
The Tomb of Nabi Shu\u2019ayb, 2018, photo<\/a> by Dancho Arnon, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection at the National Library of Israel <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Nnl
A Druze family celebrates the festival of Nabi Shu\u2019ayb, 2018, photo<\/a> by Dancho Arnon, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection at the National Library of Israel <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The strong familial and religious ties help explain why hundreds of Druze-Israeli men in mid-July streamed, at great peril, across the border toward the Druze village of Suwayda, Syria, in an effort to protect relatives and friends from being massacred by Bedouin fighters allied with that country’s new regime. Both for moral reasons and in affiliation with Druze Israelis, IDF fighter planes attacked government targets to warn authorities in Damascus to halt the massacre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Amers said that several of their relatives in Suwayda survived, although their homes were burned by the marauders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a traffic circle approaching the mountaintop village of Hurfeish (pop. 7,000), large posters hang from a stone wall in memory of Jawad Amer and other fallen Druze soldiers in this war, another of whom also hailed from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Img
Entrance to Hurfeish with banners memorializing Jawad (left) and all Druze fatalities in this war up to that point, photo by Hillel Kuttler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Druze community is part and parcel of the State of Israel in defending the residents of the land. We\u2019re fighting for our homes. The Druze see ourselves as Israeli in every way. Our Israeliness is very important to us. We\u2019ll continue defending our home and fighting,\u201d Lufti Eldeen, the director of the branch in Daliyat Al-Karmel of Yad Lebanim, a national organization memorializing soldiers, said in a phone conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nnl
IDF Chief of Staff Mordechai (Motta) Gur (center) meets with Druze IDF soldiers who were awarded for their bravery in the course of duty, 1976. Photo<\/a> by IPPA staff photographer, the Dan Hadani Archive, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection at the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 451 Druze fatalities include top-ranking soldiers, men who were \u201cthe salt of the earth,\u201d said Eldeen, whose brother and nephew were killed in combat in previous wars. And, \u201c[beginning] on October 7, they went to defend the country. We\u2019re proud of this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Amer family is immensely proud of Jawad. Prominent in the home\u2019s living room is a three-section display case made of glass. Jawad\u2019s three IDF certificates of merit stand there in frames. Other items include a peach-colored speaker he\u2019d bring along to the army; more than 10 of his cologne bottles (some still unused); Statue of Liberty and New York license plate souvenirs from a 2022 trip to the United States that also included Key West, Florida; photographs galore of the smiling young man going back to kindergarten; and several personalized memorial candles presented after his death. One display case is devoted to Jawad\u2019s army gear, including the communications system, helmet and boots he wore when he was killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Akram removed the helmet and matter-of-factly tilted it to reveal the hole through which passed the bullet that killed his son. A transparent case on a nearby coffee table displays Jawad\u2019s rifle, disabled before it was given to the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this late-July evening, Akram and Nabih spoke of Jawad\u2019s passion for CrossFit training since age 15. Approaching his discharge date, he\u2019d narrowed his career choice to physical-fitness trainer or engineer, but he hadn\u2019t decided. Jawad enjoyed going to the beach at Betzet, near Nahariya. When he and his sister Nawal got bored, they\u2019d bake cakes together. Jawad liked to travel. He doted on his paternal grandfather, Jad, who was infirm and lived next door. Jawad bought his groceries, shaved Jad, helped him shower, sat with him to talk. \u201cJawad\u201d in Arabic means \u201cgenerous,\u201d the men said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Jawad was killed, Jad\u2019s condition deteriorated. He died the following summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe one closest to Grandpa was Jawad,\u201d Nabih said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of Jawad\u2019s fine care, Akram said, his \u2014 Akram\u2019s \u2014 brother treated him to that final trip and accompanied him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When army mates stopped by to comfort the family, the Amers learned how attentive Jawad was to special-needs soldiers in desk jobs. They heard how, on the last full day of his life, he prepared sandwiches at the base and brought them to reservists along the northern border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt came from his love for them,\u201d Nabih said. \u201cSoldiers said that Jawad said, \u2018We have to defend the state. It\u2019s hard, but we\u2019ll succeed.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u201cHe was that kind of person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next day, Jawad answered a phone call from his parents. \u201cHe said the area was quiet and under control,\u201d Akram remembered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was 2:30 p.m. Less than an hour later, Jawad and his men learned that Hezbollah terrorists might have infiltrated into Israel. They drove along the border. That\u2019s where Jawad and another soldier in his vehicle were killed. Another IDF soldier was killed in the battle \u2014 the war\u2019s first three IDF fatalities on the northern front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The battle, Nabih said, prevented terrorists from murdering and kidnapping residents of Kibbutz Adamit. On the terrorists\u2019 bodies were found rocket-propelled grenades, ropes, abundant food, even cigarettes, Nabih said, an indication that a catastrophe like that which occurred in the Gaza border region two days earlier was averted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was an act of bravery,\u201d Nabih said of the soldiers\u2019 actions. \u201cThey sacrificed themselves for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writer-editor Hillel Kuttler can be reached at <\/em>hk@HillelTheScribeCommunications.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the third day of the ongoing war, Jawad, 23, was killed in battle, the first of 14 Druze-Israeli soldiers to fall. His family and his hometown of Hurfeish remember him with pride.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":450,"featured_media":179894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[217],"tags":[1232,238,5232],"tags2":[3067,2656,2657,5231],"class_list":["post-179857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-land-of-israel","tag-history-of-israel","tag-land-of-israel","tag-october-7"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRemembering Jawad Amer: The War's First Fallen Druze Soldier<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On the third day of the ongoing war, Jawad, 23, was killed in battle, the first of 14 Druze-Israeli soldiers to fall. 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