Druze
A small, Arabic-speaking religious community whose men are drafted: its size, how its villages have voted since 2019, its views on the issues, and the Golan Druze.
Share of valid votes in Daliyat al-Karmel, Yarka, Beit Jann, Hurfeish, Kisra-Sumei, Yanuh-Jat, Peki'in, Julis, Sajur and Ein al-Asad combined, computed from the Central Elections Committee's locality files. These are village results, not the vote of a group.
- Blue and White
- National Unity
- Yisrael Beiteinu
- Likud
- Meretz
- Joint List parties and Ra'am, combined
- Labor–Gesher
- Yesh Atid
- Kulanu
The numbers: How these villages voted: ten core Druze localities, 2019–2022 (% of valid votes)
| List | April 2019 | September 2019 | March 2020 | March 2021 | November 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue and White | 33.2% | 48.8% | 44.4% | 8.1% | — |
| National Unity | — | — | — | — | 30.1% |
| Yisrael Beiteinu | 9.4% | 13.7% | 13.5% | 28.2% | 18.4% |
| Likud | 13.3% | 11.1% | 17.0% | 21.8% | 11.7% |
| Meretz | 17.6% | — | — | — | 14.9% |
| Joint List parties and Ra'am, combined | 3.7% | 6.2% | 11.5% | 7.8% | 7.8% |
| Labor–Gesher | — | 11.2% | Labor–Gesher–Meretz 9.4% | — | — |
| Yesh Atid | — | — | — | 10.6% | 7.9% |
| Kulanu | 8.4% | — | — | — | — |
Source: Central Elections Committee, results by locality (computed), 2019–2022. The leading lists of each election, ordered by their highest share; a dash means the list was not among the leading lists that year. Lists as they ran each year. Meretz ran within the Democratic Union in September 2019 (4.2%) and on a joint list with Labor–Gesher in March 2020. The Joint List parties and Ra'am row adds up the lists of Hadash, Ta'al, Balad and Ra'am as they ran each year: Hadash–Ta'al and Ra'am–Balad (April 2019), the Joint List (2019–2021), Ra'am (2021–2022), Hadash–Ta'al and Balad (2022). The locality set follows the Moshe Dayan Center (dayan.org); results files for earlier elections are at media21–media24.bechirot.gov.il. Counting Isfiya and leaving out Peki'in moves the 2022 shares by 1–2 points. IDI's own 2022 figures for Druze localities: National Unity 30.4, Yisrael Beiteinu 18.3, Meretz 14, Likud 10.6 (idi.org.il)
See Daliyat al-Karmel on the vote map: National Unity (54.9%), Nov 2022
Facts checked October 5, 2026. Every number shows its source and date.
The Druze are an Arabic-speaking religious community, most of whom live in villages on Mount Carmel and in the Galilee. Statistics usually place them among Israel's Arab citizens. The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) counts them inside its "Arab" population group, where they made up 7.4% at the end of 2022 (CBS, April 2023). In a 2014–15 survey, 71% of Druze said they are ethnically Arab, against 99% of Muslims and 96% of Christians (Pew Research Center, March 2016). Asked which part of their identity matters most, most name something else. In May 2026, 64.8% of Druze respondents named Israeli citizenship as the most important component of their identity (Konrad Adenauer Program, Tel Aviv University, May 2026). In an older IDI survey (May 2016), in which Druze were about 12% of 362 Arab respondents, 54% named their religious identity, 37% Israeli, 5% Arab, and none Palestinian (IDI, May 2016). Unlike Muslim and Christian Arab citizens, Druze men are drafted. This page treats the Druze as a group of their own. The Palestinian citizens of Israel page covers Muslims and Christians.
Size, growth and geography
CBS counted about 150,000 Druze at the end of 2022, 1.6% of Israel's population (CBS, April 2023). That count includes the Druze of the Golan Heights, and the release does not give a figure without them. They are covered in the box at the end of this page and left out of the figures that follow wherever the source allows. In 2021, about 81% of Druze lived in the Northern District and 19% in the Haifa District. The largest communities were Daliyat al-Karmel (17,500), Yarka (17,300) and Maghar (13,500). The median age was 29.6 at the end of 2021. Fertility has fallen from 7.92 children per woman in 1964 to 2.00 in 2021, and the growth rate was 1.2% that year (same source).
The Carmel villages are Daliyat al-Karmel and Isfiya. The Galilee villages include Yarka, Julis, the seat of the spiritual leadership, Beit Jann, Hurfeish, Kisra-Sumei, Yanuh-Jat, Sajur, Ein al-Asad and Peki'in. Druze also live in mixed towns such as Maghar, Abu Snan, Rameh and Shefa-Amr. In 2022 the employment rate was 50.8%, against 42.6% among Muslims and 68.7% among Christians, and 14.8% of adults held an academic degree (CBS).
Druze men have been conscripted since 1956 (Zeidan Atashi, former Druze MK, via Jewish Virtual Library). No primary IDF enlistment rate was found. In Pew's 2014–15 survey, about six in ten Druze men had served (45%) or were serving (15%) (Pew).
How their villages have voted, 2019–2022
The figures below add up the ten localities that a Moshe Dayan Center study treats as at least 95% Druze (Shanan and Ilat, 2021): Daliyat al-Karmel, Yarka, Beit Jann, Hurfeish, Kisra-Sumei, Yanuh-Jat, Peki'in, Julis, Sajur and Ein al-Asad. They leave out Isfiya and the mixed towns, whose results cannot be read as Druze votes, and the Golan villages.
The vote goes overwhelmingly to the parties IDI classes as Zionist, about 90% in 2022 (IDI, December 2022), but it is not a vote for the right. In 2022, Likud, Religious Zionism, Shas and United Torah Judaism together took about 13% in the ten villages. Most of the rest went to opposition parties (CEC, computed).
The vote follows the home villages of Druze candidates. In 2022, Beit Jann gave Meretz 61.6%; Ali Salalha, Meretz's no. 4, is from Beit Jann. Daliyat al-Karmel gave National Unity 54.9%; Akram Hasson, its no. 16, lives there (CEC, computed). The Dayan Center study, covering 1996 to 2020, found the same pattern: "nearly every party that placed a Druze candidate in a realistic spot won the most support in his village" (Shanan and Ilat, 2021, translated from Hebrew).
Turnout has fallen from 76.8% in 1996 (Dayan Center) to 50.8% in 2022, well below the national rate.
Share of registered voters who voted.
The numbers: Turnout: ten core Druze localities and all voters, 2019–2022
| Election | Ten Druze localities | All voters |
|---|---|---|
| April 2019 | 60.0% | 68.5% |
| September 2019 | 53.7% | 69.8% |
| March 2020 | 56.8% | 71.5% |
| March 2021 | 47.9% | 67.4% |
| November 2022 | 50.8% | 70.6% |
Source: Central Elections Committee, results by locality (computed), 2019–2022. Same ten localities as the vote table; the Golan villages are not included. The registered roll includes residents living abroad, so locality turnout runs somewhat low
Only one Druze member of Knesset was elected in 2022, Hamad Amar of Yisrael Beiteinu. IDI called it "an all-time low" (IDI). For 2026, Ali Salalha finished 18th in the Democrats' primary (Ynetnews, July 20, 2026). A Druze party, Brit Achim, was launched in May 2026 by Wajdi Sarhan, a reserve officer (Times of Israel). In September Sarhan announced he would not run, saying that with the small parties "the conditions for a joint and equal run agreement were not created" (Ynetnews, September 8, 2026).
What they think on the issues
No large Druze-only survey exists. In IDI's Democracy Index 2025 (fieldwork May 4–28, 2025), Druze were about 8.4% of 364 Arab respondents, roughly 31 people. IDI itself limited its use of the religion breakdown for that reason (IDI, 2025). The figures below are a rough guide only. No 2026 survey breaks out Druze views on any of the issues.
Share agreeing with each statement, by religion, within IDI's Arab sample.
DruzeMuslimsChristians
- Trust the IDF
- Proud to be Israeli
- Trust the Supreme Court
- The Supreme Court intervenes too much in government decisions
The numbers: Druze, Muslim and Christian respondents compared, 2025
| Share who agree | Druze | Muslims | Christians |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trust the IDF | 84% | 28% | 34% |
| Proud to be Israeli | 77% | 30% | 56% |
| Trust the Supreme Court | 61% | 38% | 37% |
| The Supreme Court intervenes too much in government decisions | 71% | 54% | 62% |
Source: Israel Democracy Institute, Israeli Democracy Index 2025, May 4–28, 2025, 364 Arab respondents by phone in Arabic; Druze about 8.4%, roughly 31 people. IDI publishes these Druze, Muslim and Christian figures in its report (e.g. table 2.5) but says it "limited the use of" the religion breakdown "due to the small proportion of Christians and Druze in the Arab sample." The Druze subsample is about 31 people, so its margin of error is far wider than the full sample's
The Haredi draft. IDI 2025 gives no Druze breakdown. The community's own draft is described above.
Courts. Druze trust the Supreme Court more than Muslims or Christians do (61%). They are also the most likely of the three groups to say it intervenes too much (71%). 83.5% support a constitution (IDI, 2025).
War and hostages. Trust in the IDF rose from 64% in 2024 to 84% in 2025, about the Jewish level (83.5%). Two-thirds (67%) say the state provides security for its citizens, and 81% are optimistic about Israel's future (same source). No sourced total of Druze soldiers killed since October 7, 2023 was found.
West Bank. The only Druze figure found is old: in 2014–15, 66% said settlements hurt Israel's security (Pew).
Religion and state. No Druze poll on the 2018 Nation-State Law was found. The evidence is how the community acted (below).
Economy. 58% say the state manages to ensure citizens' welfare, against 31–32% of Muslims and Christians. But only 29% trust the government and 19% trust the Knesset (IDI, 2025).
Who they are
The Druze spiritual leader since 1993 has been Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif (Moment, February 2018), born in Julis, who succeeded his grandfather, Sheikh Amin Tarif (University of Haifa). Jewish-Israeli leaders have called the bond a "blood covenant," brit damim. Sephardi Chief Rabbi David Yosef, visiting Julis in August 2025, said: "We have a blood covenant with the Druze community, and the state must do everything to protect the Druze wherever they are" (Times of Israel, August 28, 2025). The Druze speakers quoted here use other words: loyalty, sacrifice, equality.
The 2018 Nation-State Law tested that bond. On July 25, 2018, about 100 Druze reserve officers protested it (Ynetnews).
After we built this home together with the Jews, the Nationality Law excludes the Druze community from that home and put it outside the fence.
On August 4, 2018, some 90,000 Druze, with other opponents of the law, filled Rabin Square, by Ynet's estimate (Ynet). Sheikh Tarif told the rally:
Despite our unreserved loyalty to the state, the state does not see us as equals.
From July 13, 2025, clashes in Suwayda in southern Syria pitted "Druze fighters against Sunni Bedouin tribes and the army and its allies" (France 24, July 17, 2025). The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria reported in March 2026 that more than 1,700 people were killed and nearly 200,000 displaced, in violations "mainly against the Druze and Bedouin communities" by actors including government forces and Druze armed groups. It found that after government forces withdrew, "Druze armed groups then attacked Bedouin civilians" (UN News, March 27, 2026). Israel struck Syrian government forces in Suwayda, and dozens of Israeli civilians crossed the border near Majdal Shams (Ynetnews, July 15, 2025). Hamad Amar said: "The prime minister and defense minister have repeatedly promised to protect our brethren across the border" (same source).