Man. I know the Palestinians have it rough, but the Lebanese do as well. That country has seen so much turmoil. I feel so sad for the people of Lebanon.
As a Jewish person, who has met Lebanese who hate me because of my ethnicity and said as much to me, I wish I could apologize for the atrocities committed either by Israel or with their permission over the many decades. I wish an apology from some random American Jew with no direct family from Israel can apologize for what “my people” have done. I am also an atheist, but I am praying for their safety. These people have suffered enough. The history of Lebanon is horrible, so much death and suffering. So much caused by the Israelis, Phalangist, Syrians, and yes, even the Palestinians. This whole situation hearts my heart.
edit: I’ll make clear, of course in this situation Israel needs to deal with Hezbollah. But Lebanese does not equal Hezbollah. Just like Palestinian does not equal Hamas.
It’s alright, the most you can do is to continue being a good person. None of what’s happening is your fault. The crimes of members of “your people” do not reflect upon you as an individual nor on the Jewish diaspora at large. The same way that the crimes of Hamas do not reflect on the Palestinians at large.
Thank you for kind words, and I do know that deep down. But being very, very familiar with Lebanon’s history, it makes me cry to think of everything these people have been through and the horrors awaiting them if this escalates. I know the Palestinians are going through the same thing now in Gaza, but for whatever reason the news of what may happen in Lebanon has hit me harder. It is probably due to my personal experiences being on the receiving end of antisemitism from a Lebanese person and feeling like I deserved it because of what “my people” did. When this happened to me, I didn’t understand. Why did he hate me? My family fled Europe and came to America. I have no connection aside from being Jewish to modern day Israel. I took that as an opportunity to learn about the history, if I am going to be associated with the actions of Israel then I should learn the history. Now I know the history, I can understand why they have that hate.
You writing this as a Jew means you’re a complete idiot.
Nice antisemitism, buddy. Why can’t a Jewish person feel shame and sadness for the actions Israel has taken in Lebanon since June 6th, 1982?
Educate yourself: https://www.nytimes.com/1982/09/26/world/the-beirut-massacre-the-four-days.html
Why is the conflict spilling over to Lebanon?
Hezbollah has been involved from South Lebanon since the initial attacks by Hamas. They were launching rockets from Lebanon.
Some additional context is that Hezbollah is strongly funded and supported by Iran, who take every opportunity to try to hurt Israel that they get. The Muslim world is also generally united in being opposed to Israel’s existence, and Palestine in particular is something of a rallying cry to all of them. This is also something that Iran very directly encourages.
Israel moving their forces south means they are open to attack on the north, which certain actors may act on.
Long story short, Israel pushed all the Palestinian fighters out at some point and the PLO was forced to fight from its neighboring countries. Seeing the Palestinians as their neighbors and the Israelis as colonizers most (if not all) backed Palestine. Eventually Palestine regained control of Gaza and the west bank.
With Israel now bombing all of Gaza and sending troops into the west bank Lebanon probably see’s the writing on the wall. They’re not waiting for war to come to their land. They don’t want a bunch of Palestinian refugees they want Israel to stop invading Palestine.
