Lynching in Israel

For John, BLUF:  The Middle East has the diversity of Lowell, but without any interest in getting along and a lot of interest in winning by killing.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Independent Reporter Michael J. Totten, who operates out of the Middle East, is one of two people who can usually be trusted to provide the straight word,♠ in this case a look at the Druze in Israel, Syria and Lebanon.  This article is "The Background of a Lynching".

Earlier this week, on the Golan Heights, an enraged mob assaulted an ambulance and attacked two wounded men inside with rocks, clubs, and chains, killing one and seriously wounding another.

The ambulance was Israeli.  The wounded men were Arab fighters from Syria.  The assailants were also Arabs, though they were Druze rather than Muslims.

Several readers have emailed and asked me to explain this, so I assume others are also scratching their heads. I don’t have all the answers.  What kind of person attacks an ambulance?  I can easily imagine it’s someone who is steeped in some real political craziness, is emotionally unstable, and has some kind of personality disorder.  But a mob mentality sometimes sets in with people who are otherwise psychologically normal.  I can’t psychoanalyze these people.

I can, however, explain some of the background that might shine some light on what happened and why.

Read the whole thing for a quick (short read) look at the complexity of the Middle East.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  The other is Nir Rosen.