These schools build Druze Israeli identity, one student at a time
Amal Educational Network is proud to share a new feature in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and other media outlets across the USA, highlighting how our Druze high schools in Yanuh Jat and Kisra Samia are helping a proud minority community strengthen its unique identity while fully participating in Israel’s democratic society. The article shows how these schools have become community anchors during years of war and uncertainty, offering Druze students a warm home, academic excellence and a clear “ticket to the next station in life.” For our friends and partners abroad, this story is a powerful window into Amal’s mission to build a shared Israeli society grounded in equality, human dignity and social justice.
In the western Galilee village of Yanuh Jat, principal Wageeh Barakat and his team have turned the local Amal high school into a vibrant hub that is open seven days a week, strengthening the bonds between students, families and educators. The school nurtures resilience in a community living under rocket fire and mourning fallen Druze IDF officers, while also investing in the future through initiatives like a new “Library for Democracy” that will serve both students and residents as a center for civic learning and engagement. Encounters with neighboring Jewish Amal schools, shared agricultural projects and ongoing teacher seminars in the “Democracy Community” program, model everyday coexistence and mutual respect.
At the Amal Multidisciplinary High School in Kisra Samia, led by veteran educator Nazir Rabah, nearly 1,000 Druze, Christian and Muslim students study together in majors ranging from medical science and software engineering to business administration and rescue and safety studies. The school has been recognized for academic excellence, innovation and social leadership, and regularly welcomes American Jewish visitors who want to see how strong communal identity can go hand in hand with high-level STEM and vocational education. Amal’s Druze schools demonstrate that when students deeply know who they are, they can face the world without fear—building a resilient community that proudly maintains its heritage while contributing fully to Israel’s shared future
