Shipments of food supplies from Israel, bearing the names of well known Israeli brands, have been the source of much strife in Arab media and Arab social networks, most likely because this is the month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast during the day and think about food more often than usual. The provisions, including packaged rice and wheat, reach the Al-Quneitra district, which is dominated by the Syrian opposition. But while some rebel groups welcome the Israeli support, other groups, some of which are affiliated with President Assad’s regime, have attacked the initiative, saying that “it’s an insult to receive food from the Zionist entity which is oppressing the Golan.”

The Golan Heights, a hilly stretch overlooking lake Kinneret and Israel’s civilian communities, used to be the spots from which Syrian soldiers would target Israelis down below like fish in a barrel for 19 years, until Israel put an end to the madness by capturing the hills and denying the Syrians their target practice.

Pictures of the Israeli food products have reached the London daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi, which cited a source on the ground in southern Syria that claimed Israel has been supporting the rebel groups there since 2013, after Jordan had closed off its Syrian border. Obviously, the groups who don’t get to share in the Israeli made rice, wheat, tea and Canola oil describe the haves as traitors and Zionist collaborators.

Israeli food products in Syria

Revolutionary Military Council in Quneitra and the Golan last week issued a strong condemnation that went: “We condemn the insult our people have sustained in the liberated Al-Quneitra district in the form of food supplies awarded by the Zionist entity which is repressing the Golan which was sold out by the regime.” The RMCQ was particularly upset because the revelation of the Zionist food supplies came close to the part of the year when the anniversaries of the 1948 and the 1967 wars take place, in May and June respectively.

Al-Quds Al-Arabi cited a local activist who said the food is being hauled into Syria by members of the Free Syrian Army, after they deliver their wounded to hospitals south of the border, in Israel. It appears there are many Syrians who are delighted and grateful that Israel has been so supportive. Fahd Al-Mousa, head of the liberated Quneitra district council told the newspaper that only Israel has been a reliable ally for his people.

“Since the beginning of the Syrian revolution we haven’t found a way to bring the injured and hurt into any Arab country,” Al-Mousa stated, adding that only Israel has opened its gates to them. “And there are packages of medicine, milk for babies and additional foodstuffs that enter the district from Israel,” he said. Compared with Israel’s consistent support, he said, help from the gulf emirates had been sporadic.

Motti Kahane, president of the humanitarian organization Amalia, told Ynet that in southern Syria there may be more than 50 different rebel groups, each of which runs its own fundraising and receives its own supplies from five different countries. Amalia would like to serve as a go between for all the donated goods and food that come in, and to dispense them fairly and equally through the Quneitra crossing between Israel and Syria, which is normally closed.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu vowed Monday night to “bring the lawmakers to justice” after Israeli Druze attacked an IDF ambulance bearing wounded Syrian rebels in the Golan Heights, but asked leaders of the community also to “calm the mood.”

One of the two patients was killed in the lynching; the injuries of the second were worsened and he is now in critical condition.

“Nobody can take the law into their own hands,” said Netanyahu during a cybersecurity conference Monday night at Tel Aviv University. “No one can disrupt the missions of IDF soldiers.

“We will locate those who perpetrated this lynch and we will deal with them to the fullest extent of the law,” he went on. “We are a nation of law; we are not part of the anarchy that is spreading around us.

“I call on the heads of the Druze community, a splendid community with whom we have a brotherly bond, citizens of the State of Israel, I call on them to calm the mood and tell each Druze citizen of the State of Israel – respect the law, respect IDF soldiers and do not take law into one’s hands. This is what I ask of our Druze brothers; this is what I ask of all citizens of the State of Israel.”

The attackers, residents of nearby Majdal Shams, suspected the two Syrians were members of the Al Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra (Al Nusra Front) terrorist organization.

“I call on the leadership of the Druze community to turn down the heat and use discretion in their rhetoric,” Netanyahu added.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon condemned the incident in separate remarks in equally strong terms, noting that the “situation in Syria is complex” and pointing out that government officials have been keeping the Israeli Druze leadership “fully updated” as events unfold.

Not everyone condemned the lynch by Israeli Druze on an IDF ambulance bearing Syrian wounded in the Golan Heights on Monday night, the second such attack in fewer than 24 hours.

Syrian state media was filled with praise for the attack, lauding Druze villagers from Majdal Shams who killed one of the two wounded Syrians in the ambulance. The injuries of the second were worsened to a critical level.

Both were believed to have been rebels fighting against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. But they are also suspected to be members of the Al Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra (Al Nusra Front) terrorist organization.

But Israel has made it clear it intervenes only in humanitarian cases. Terrorists from Jabhat al-Nusra and Da’esh (ISIS) are not allowed to receive medical treatment in the Jewish State.

Nevertheless, the villagers of Majdal Shams were seen celebrating Monday night after the lynching – dancing with joyous chants and waving flags, according to Israel’s Channel 2 News. The resulting late-night traffic jam and blasting music was filmed by the Karmel website, which posted a brief slice of the footage on YouTube.

Many Israeli Druze have immediate family living across the northern border in Syria, about whom they are desperately worried.

They have repeatedly expressed their concern for the welfare of their families and have stated their willingness to cross that border to protect their loved ones.

A recent massacre of Druze in Syria by radical Islamists became the “red line” for many in the Israeli Druze community, in fact, and has gone far in whipping up passions against jihadists.

Israeli media was buzzing Tuesday morning over the lynch by Israeli Druze in the Golan Heights of an ambulance carrying Syrian wounded to a local hospital late Monday.

The attack, which took place near Majdal Shams, left one Syrian rebel fighter dead and a second critically injured. It is suspected the two may have been members of the Al Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra (Al Nusra Front) terrorist group.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon condemned the attack and told reporters Tuesday that authorities would pursue the arrest of those who organized the deadly mob.

“We will not go back to a normal routine,” Ya’alon vowed. “Israel is a nation of law. We will not allow anarchy, violent behavior and small groups of vigilantes to take the law into their own hands.”

Israel has quietly been providing medical treatment for various select individuals with severe injuries throughout the savage civil war that has raged in Syria since March 2011.

“This incident is a violation of our values which are expressed by humanitarian medical treatment to injured Syrians and to every individual who needs it,” he added.

A small group of violent vigilantes will “not harm the special alliance the State of Israel has with its Druze civilians and will not succeed in tarnishing the face of that community [either],” he continued.

“I call on public officials who are discussing this issue to show discretion and refrain from fiery rhetoric,” Ya’alon cautioned.

“The reality in Syria is complex. We are dealing with the situation responsibly – with sound judgment – and we are updating the Druze leadership in accordance with developments.”

A Druze mob attacked an IDF military ambulance on Tuesday evening in the village of Majdal Shams in the Northern Golan in Israel.

The IDF ambulance was transporting 2 wounded Syrian to an Israeli hospital — and according to Channel 10 Israel TV, the 2 were beaten to death by the mob.

An IDF doctor and driver were lightly wounded by the mob.

Some of the Majdal Shams Druze are pro-Syrian (they are concerned that eventually Israel will leave the Golan and if they aren’t pro-Assad they will be slaughtered), and they are angry that Israel is providing medical aid to rebel forces, in addition to the daily death count of the bloody civil war in Syria.

The IDF has increased security at Israeli hospital beds where wounded Syrians are receiving medical care, due to concerns that Druze will attack the wounded in their beds.

At least one of the Syrians being transported tonight has been confirmed as being killed by the lynch mob.

Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) chairman Naftali Bennett called on the world to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights in speech to the annual Herzliya Conference on Sunday.

Israel annexed the strategic and water-rich Golan in 1981, but many foreign media articles are preceded with the dateline “Golan Heights, Occupied Territories.”

Bennett’s initiative might be the first small step towards what is going to be an eventual reality. As Syria falls apart, the idea of handing over the Golan to Bashar Al-Assad doesn’t even enter the imagination of Secretary of State John Kerry.

However, Bennett’s call for recognition was welcomed with a resounding thud by foreign media, such as AFP, whose first words in its report were “Far-right Israeli minister.” The description is outlandish, if not libelous, unless the same news agency were to call Labor party chairman Yitzchak Herzog “far-left.”

Bennett said yesterday:

I call on the international community… to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan…. I understand that there is a disagreement on Judaea and Samaria, what the world calls the West Bank. I understand that on this we shall agree to disagree.

But the Golan, to ban agricultural exports from the Golan? Where is the logic, where is your morality? Who would you like us to give the Golan Heights to? To Assad? To Al-Nusra Front? To the Islamic State group? To Hezbollah?

There is a consensus among Israelis that the Golan Heights should remain in Israel. The 20,000 Jews in the Golan Heights make up 50 percent of the population, the other half being Druze, approximately half of whom live in the city of Majdal Shams.

Prime Minister Netanyahu took the air out of Bennett’s Bayit Yehudi party, which in the early stages of the election was polled to win 16 seats in the Knesset. By Election Day, the number was down to 12, the same it had in the previous government.

The day after the election, Netanyahu’s frantic call for Jews to vote had reduced the party’s strength to eight.

Bennett is not making the mistake of previous nationals religious parties to become a party of “Yesha,” the acronym for the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria.

He is trying to shed the party of the stigma that nationalists must be religious. Secular Knesset Member Ayelet Shaked was at the top of the heap in the elections and won the prize of Justice Minister.

Now Bennett needs even broader support in Israel to strengthen his position in the government, and his call on the world to recognize the Golan was more for local consumption than any expectation that the United Nations or even the Obama administration will admit to the truth.

12:46 PM: Now this is interesting:
A Syrian army source told the Lebanon news outlet, Elnashra: A number of rockets were launched at IDF positions near the border. Syrian rebel forces then launched mortars at the source of the Syrian rocket fire. The Syrian army is on high alert in readiness for an Israeli assault.

12:39 PM IDF believes that the shelling was not intentional, and the misdirected fire came from the currently ongoing fighting on the Syrian side of the border between the Syrian rebels and Assad’s army.

12:35 PM: Israeli farmers near Quneitra being evacuated from the fields.

12:29 PM: Update: It appears that 2 to 4 rockets or shells fell near Ein Zivan and Qunaitra, not just one. All landed in open areas. No injuries reported.

12:25 PM: IDF shooting back at the source of fire. (Update: IDF says it did not open fire. It is possible, the secondary fire may have come from within Syria).

12:24 PM: The shell landed in an apple orchard. No injuries reported.

12:18 PM: One mortar shell landed in Israel from Syria. It is not yet known if it accidentally went off course or if it was purposely targeting Israel.

12:11 PM: Confirmed: Something hit in an open area near Ein Zivan, which is just south-west of Quneitra where there is often fighting between the Syrian groups.

12:04 PM: A rocket alert just went off on the Golan Heights, in the Katzrin and Majdal Shams areas.