Muwaffaq Tarif

Overview

Sheikh Muwaffaq Tarif is the spiritual leader of the Druze in Israel. He lives in Julis, a Druze village in the Galilee, and has used his position to address both the standing of Druze citizens within Israel and threats to Druze communities across the border in Syria. His public work combines religious leadership, interfaith cooperation, appeals for greater support for Druze veterans and communities, and efforts to protect Druze civilians during the Syrian conflict. As a leader of the Druze, Tarif has also served as a point of contact between Israeli officials and Druze religious figures from Syria.

Career

Tarif has served as the spiritual leader of Israel’s Druze community since 1993. His leadership is based in Julis, from which he has represented the community in meetings with Israeli leaders and Jewish organizations abroad. He has praised the longstanding relationship between Druze and Jewish peoples, tracing it to the founding of the Druze faith more than 1,000 years ago. He has described Druze–Jewish relations in Israel as a model for relations between a minority and a majority.

Tarif has paired that praise with demands for stronger public support. During a visit to American Jewish Committee headquarters, he challenged the perception that Druze citizens were necessarily better placed than other Arab citizens in Israeli society. He drew attention to socioeconomic gaps between Druze and Jewish communities and argued that Israel’s government was giving insufficient support to its loyal Druze minority. In particular, he called for better financial assistance for Druze veterans seeking places at Israeli colleges and universities. He sought help from both the Israeli government and American Jewish organizations to improve conditions in Druze communities.

Interfaith relations have formed another part of his public role. Tarif credited the Council of Religious Community Leaders, established in Israel in 2007 with assistance from Rabbi David Rosen, with improving cooperation among Druze, Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders. He highlighted the council’s contribution to calming Arab–Jewish tensions in Acre. His account of the council presented cooperation among religious leaders as a practical means of addressing tensions within Israeli society.

Ideology and statements

Tarif has treated the safety of Druze in Syria as a concern extending beyond Israel’s borders. In October 2013, he raised the fate of Syrian Druze in a meeting with Israeli president Shimon Peres. At that stage, Tarif called for restraint in the response of Israel’s Druze community. He was among the leading clerics entrusted with deciding how that community would respond, and he warned that restraint could require reassessment if foreign fighters placed Syrian Druze in grave danger. He specifically identified Jabhat al-Nusra, an Al-Qaeda affiliate, among the groups whose arrival heightened the threat.

At American Jewish Committee headquarters, Tarif made an urgent appeal for the safety of Druze in Syria and warned that Druze in Idlib faced possible genocide. He argued that cooperation between the United States and Russia was essential to the security of Syria’s minorities. He also called the United States’ departure from Syria a major mistake, warning that it had created an opening for the Iranian regime and Hezbollah, a terrorist organization. These statements placed protection of vulnerable communities at the center of his assessment of Syria’s conflict.

Role in attacks or conflicts

Tarif’s role in the Syrian conflict has been that of a religious leader and advocate for Druze protection. His position became more urgent as violence against Druze communities intensified in 2025. In Jaramana, near Damascus, he warned of a “massacre in the making” and publicly urged Israeli intervention. He declared that Israel could not remain a bystander while Druze faced violence in Syria. At a Druze military ceremony in Israel, he called on Israel, the international community and the Jewish people to act immediately to prevent a massacre. He subsequently appealed for American support for efforts to protect Syrian Druze.

Tarif also maintained direct ties with Druze religious figures from Syria. On March 14, 2025, visiting sheikhs met him during a pilgrimage to the Nabi Shu’ayb shrine in Israel. Their visit was the first such delegation to cross into Israel since 1974. The visitors presented Tarif with a plaque and a ceremonial sword. Their journey passed through the Golan Heights, part of the State of Israel and of historic Bashan, most of which lies in Syria and is today occupied by Syria. Tarif’s reception of the delegation gave a public expression to ties among Druze communities separated by the border.

His standing was visible within Syria as well. At a March 6, 2025, demonstration in As-Suwayda, protesters displayed Tarif’s picture beside that of Syrian Druze spiritual leader Hikmat al-Hijri. Later that year, Tarif addressed violence within the Druze community itself. After members of a militia affiliated with al-Hijri arrested his opponents and killed two detainees in late November, Tarif warned al-Hijri to de-escalate the conflict. His intervention distinguished the defense of Druze civilians from support for violence between Druze factions.

Death or current status

Tarif remained active as Israel’s Druze spiritual leader through 2025. He continued to press Israeli and international figures to protect Druze in Syria while speaking for the needs of Druze citizens and veterans in Israel. His work that year included meetings with visiting Syrian clerics and public appeals during violence around Damascus and As-Suwayda.

Legacy

Tarif’s leadership links two enduring concerns of Israel’s Druze community: its place in Israeli civic life and its bonds with Druze elsewhere in the region. His praise for Druze–Jewish relations has been accompanied by specific demands for educational assistance and attention to socioeconomic disparities. Across the Syrian border, his shift from a call for restraint in 2013 to an explicit appeal for Israeli intervention in 2025 reflected the growing danger he identified for Druze civilians. His warning to al-Hijri also showed a willingness to call for restraint when violence arose within the community he sought to protect.