LEBANESE AND ISRAELI MARONITES AGAINST HEZBOLLAH TERRORISTS

Nadene Goldfoot
                                                                   

Haifa, Israel's Maronite Christian Church 
The Maronites are a Christian group^[ who adhere to the Syriac Maronite Church with the largest population around Mount Lebanon in Lebanon. The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic sui iuris particular church in full communion with the Pope and the Catholic Church,  "Historically, Maronites have been rural people. They are thought to trace their roots back to the 4th Century. In the 7th Century, due to religious persecution, they withdrew from the coastal regions to the mountainous areas of Lebanon and Syria, where they lived in isolation."

Israel has about 7,000 Maronite Christians, a branch very much like Western Catholics.  "The archeparchy includes all the faithful of the Maronite Church who live in Israel. The archeparchial seat is the city of Haifa, where the Saint Louis the King Cathedral is located. The territory is divided into eight parishes.

In the archeparchy in 2013, there were approximately 7,000 members, 9 priests and 8 parishes."                                       

Christian leaders in Jerusalem, Israel
In 2011 there were 4,196,453 Lebanese with
60% being Muslims in Lebanon.  

"Members of the Christian community in Israel are bringing back an ancient language spoken by Jesus, and are finding fellow speakers in unexpected parts of the world."  Jish is the only village in Israel with a majority Maronite population. Muslims constitute about 35 percent of the residents, with a smattering of Melkite Christians making up the tiny remainder. They are guiding those in Sweden and Holland.  

"Phoenicianism is a form of Lebanese nationalism, first adopted by Lebanese Christians, primarily Maronites, at the time of the creation of Greater Lebanon. It constitutes identification of the Lebanese people with the ancient Phoenicians." They have the history of King Solomon of Israel being friends with the King of  Tyre, Hiram.  Tyre was a major city of the Phoenicians, living in today's Lebanon.  "It promotes the view that Lebanese people, or sometimes exclusively just Lebanese Christians, are not Arabs and that the Lebanese speak a distinct language and have their own culture, separate from that of the surrounding Middle Eastern countries. Supporters of this theory of Lebanese ethnogenesis maintain that the Lebanese are descended from Phoenicians and are not Arabs. Some also maintain that Levantine Arabic is not an Arabic variety, rather a variation of Neo-Aramaic, but has become a distinctly separate language."

                                                                                 

"Cardinal Bechara Rai, head of the Maronite Catholic Church, center, arrives to visit a church in Jaffa, a mixed Jewish and Arab neighborhood in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, May 26, 2014. (photo credit: AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)"

Recently in 2014, "Maronite Cardinal Bechara Ra’i, here with Pope Francis, defies threats from home and goes to Jaffa, plans to head to the north next."    He made a first visit of a Maronite Cardinal to Israel since 1948's birth of Israel.  Maronites seemed to have risen out of Antioch, Turkey's meetings of the Christian organizing going on in the 300s CE.  Lebanon was part of the Ottoman Empire, close to Jerusalem.  

.  "Cardinal Bechara Ra’i, a Maronite Catholic, made the trip despite opposition at home. His critics have said the pilgrimage implies normalization with Israel at a time when the two countries remain formally at war."  Lebanon, Israel's northern neighbor  along the coast, is made up of Maronite Christians who hold the position of being the group chosen for the position of president.  7,000 Maronite Christians are living in Israel out of a total of about 3,537,660 in the world.  Other Catholics also live in Lebanon, of which Major Hadad, a former friend of Israel who has passed away, was a member. 

Looking back, in the year of 1960, Lebanon had a population of 1.8 million people.   Today they have about 6.1 million.  Israel has 8,548,870 out of which 6 million are Jews.  "The IDF does not conscript Arab citizens of Israel who are Muslim or Christian, however, increasing numbers choose to volunteer for military service. Many Bedouins enlist on a voluntary basis. For Druze and Circassian men, enlistment is mandatory "through their own choice.  

                                             

Israel's IDF soldiers, a mixture of faiths and nations
Here you see Jewish, Muslim and Christian faiths
To Israelis they are the beloved IDF, Israel Defense Force. 
Note:  It's a country on the defense, protecting their
population, and has had to do this since its inception in 1948. 
Jews, the world's scapegoats, have had a hard time getting
other religious people to accept them in a world
they had been driven out of by the Romans.  Now,
besides the obvious rockets, mortars and missiles,
BDS threatens them coming right from the Middle East
that like a virus, spreads its devilment all over the world
to use against Israel. 

Below you see a Maronite Festival celebration going on in
Miami, Florida, USA where they must be living.   

        Maronite Christians make up about 21% of the population of Lebanon.  

• 54% Islam (Shia and Sunni, 27% each)
• 40.5% Christian (21% Maronite, 8% Eastern Orthodox, 5% Melkite Catholic, 1% Protestant, 6% other Christian denominations non-native to Lebanon like Armenian Orthodox, Armenian Catholic, Syriac Orthodox, Syriac Catholic, Roman Catholic, Chaldean, Assyrian, and Copt)
• 5.5% Druze (included within the Muslim group in the Lebanese Constitution.)

The Druze and Maronite Christians were at war with each other in 1860 with the Druze being the overlords of the Maronites.  

According to Wikipedia, "Other religions account for only an estimated 0.3% of the population- mainly foreign temporary workers, according to the CIA Factbook. There remains a very small Jewish population, traditionally centered in Beirut. It has been larger: most Jews left the country after the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) as thousands of Lebanese did at that time."

Lebanon used to be the playground, the Paris of the Middle East, where the Arabs would go for their Rest and Recreation moments.  Life has done a 180 degree turn-around today.  No more.  

                                                

Today they have all been taken over by Hezbollah terrorists from iran and look towards Israel as a place to destroy.  Hezbollah possess more than 150,000 rockets and missiles that can carry nuclear warheads, many of which are capable of striking any location in Israel right now.  They have dug tunnels under homes in Lebanon going into israel. for attack and kill purposes.    
                                                    

 IDF of Israel fights against Hezbollah

 President Trump is now talking about bringing on a peace between Lebanon and Israel.  BEIRUT — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday called on the Lebanese people to stand up to Hezbollah's "criminality, terror and threats," and claimed U.S. sanctions on Iran and its Lebanese Shiite ally were working and that more pressure on them was forthcoming.The Lebanese Foreign Minister stood next to him  insisted that Hezbollah is "a Lebanese group that is not a terrorist organization and was elected by the people."  My comment is that he is very weak.  The problem lies with the Golan Heights and Trump announcing Friday that he will recognize Israel's soverignty over it.  "The Golan Heights is a narrow strip of mountainous land, roughly 1,800sq km, bordering Syria, Israel, Jordan and Lebanon."
                                                    

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that the Golan Heights will always be part of Israel, and Syria, which does not recognize Israel.  Syria wants the territory back..  It would be Hezbollah speaking in place of Syria that want it back in order to attack Israel more easily.  

It is a strategically important territory for the two enemy countries with its elevated position – nearly 3,000m above sea level – allowing a viewpoint into southern Syria, northern Israel and southern Lebanon.                                                 

Hezbollah terrorists against Israeiis

When Syria had control of the Golan Heights, its military was able to use positions to shell Israeli communities below. That went on incessantly.  They want to destroy Israel.  They were part of the Kartoum Conference in Africa where the Muslims said NO 3 times to offers of peace.  Writers seem to leave out objectives of countries which is most important.  Israel does not use the height to destroy or be on the offensive against Syria but can use it for DEFENSE.  A country as small as Israel is needs all the defense it can get in boundaries from  today's weapons.  

But Israel’s possession of the land also gives its military a clear view into Syria, all the way to the capital Damascus some 60km away.

                                               

Christian female IDF soldier of Israel 

The CIA information :

LEBANON Total population: 6,100,075 (July 2018 est.)

• Lebanese nationals: 4,678,533 (July 2014 est.)

  Syrian refugees: 946,291 (March 2019 est.) registered at the UNHCR (down from 1,077,000 in June 2014)

  Palestinian refugees: 469,555 (2018 est.)

  Iraqi refugees: 5,695 (2017 est.)

                                                                 

Lookout at Golan Heights
To save lives of Israelis, it must stay in israel's hands.
Once a part of the 12 Tribes of Israel

UK just came out and banned Hezbollah. In banning the entire organization of Hezbollah, the UK joins Canada, the U.S., Israel, the Netherlands and the Arab League, which have all banned the terror organization.  

Lebanon:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860_Mount_Lebanon_civil_war
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanese_Maronite_Christians
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bkerk%C3%A9
town of Kobayet in North Lebanon-Marc's origin 400 years ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maronite_Church
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maronite_Catholic_Archeparchy_of_Haifa_and_the_Holy_Land
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenicianism
http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/israel-population/
Jerusalem Post: by Judith Sudiovsky, August 30, 2012 Members of the Christian community in Israel are bringing back an ancient language spoken by Jesus, and are finding fellow speakers in unexpected parts of the world.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/why-trump-golan-heights-announcement-133626672.html
https://www.worldtribune.com/unreported-jihadists-slaughtered-120-christians-in-past-month/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6932786.stm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_Israel
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13912/uk-bans-hezbollah