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Sunday, June 2, 2024

Hezbollah-Out of Lebanon's Jewish and Muslim Population

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                 


Yes, Jews had been living in Lebanon!  In 1944, the middle of the 2nd World War, there had been 6,261 Jews in Lebanon.  Their numbers had been augmented after 1948 by Jews from Syria, and the community in 1964 was estimated at 5,000 to 7,000. After 1967, the Jewish community diminished as expected since Israel was born in May 1948.  

Why did they choose to live there and not in Judea/Samaria?  The Ottoman Empire controlled the land.  They chose Beirut for their center.  Some also lived in Tripoli, Tyre, and Sidon.  They were engaged in commerce;  businesses.  

Most of the the 1,000 remaining  in 1975 left during the Civil War and by1990, less than100 remained in Lebanon.  

During the War of Independence for Israel in 1948, some discriminations were put on the Jews,  but removed after the fighting stopped.

There were attacks from Lebanon, but the  final provocation occurred in June 1982 when a Palestinian terrorist group led by Abu Nidal attempted to assassinate Israel’s Ambassador to Great BritainShlomo Argov. The IDF subsequently attacked Lebanon again on June 4-5, 1982. The PLO responded with a massive artillery and mortar attack on the Israeli population of the Galilee. On June 6, the IDF moved into Lebanon to drive out the terrorists in “Operation Peace for Galilee.

Hezbollah (terrorists) was established by Lebanese clerics primarily to fight the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. It adopted the model set out by Ayatollah Khomeini after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, and the party's founders adopted the name "Hezbollah" as chosen by Khomeini.

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/background-and-overview-of-first-lebanon-war


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