Beware Of Israel's First Civil War of North and South and It's Consequences

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                

When at present, it was announced on the news today that Israel is close to a Civil War, but the president, Hertzog, said he would not allow that to happen.  People have been rioting for the past 11 weeks and it looks like it will continue until Passover over the new governmental policies in the judicial area.  

Israel and the kingdom of Judah allowed things to get out of hand and had their First and Only Civil War with dire consequences.  King Solomon died in 920 BCE, and that was the start of it.  A divided kingdom falls, and in this case, Assyria was just waiting for this to happen as they stepped in and took the land AND the people.  

Solomon, born in 961 BCE,  had taken on the task of building the Temple that Moses had planned for.  He got rid of his brother, Adonijah, and other potentially dangerous individuals and put his money and his laborers with architects and builders sent to him by King Hiram of Tyre.  The work was completed in the 11th year of Solomon's reign and ensured the central position of Jerusalem in the kingdom.                              

                     Abiathar, son of Ahimelech, chief priest at Nob, a priestly city probably situated near Jerusalem on Mt. Scopus.  After the destruction of the tabernacle  or temporary Temple (According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle, also known as the Tent of the Congregation, was the portable earthly dwelling place of Yahweh used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan.) at Shiloh, the priests of the sons of Eli built a high-place in Nob where they officiated.  As a punishment for the assistance given to the fugitive David, Saul slew all the priests of the place because they were like false priests.                          

            Eli with Samuel

Eli became the high priest at age 58 at the shrine of Shiloh and one of the last Judges in the 11th century BCE.  He was the mentor of Samuel.  He had died 40 years after becoming high priest by falling from his chair on hearing of the Philistine capture of the Ark. 

Zadok was a Cohen, a priest, not a high one, though.  He may have officiated at the altar in Gibeon but after Saul's death, went to David at Hebron and--together with Abiathar---was David's chief priest.  He remained loyal during Absalom's rebellion and on David's command, anointed Solomon as king.  Solomon appointed Zadok's son a high priest in the Temple and from that time the high priesthood remained in the Zadokite family until the period of the Hasmonean rising. 

Adonijah buttering up David as he lay dying.  Adonijah was the 4th son of David.  After  his brother, Absalom's death, who was the 3rd son, he claimed the succession to the throne, with the support of Joab and Abiathar, but was unsuccessful.  Adonijah later sought to marry Abishag, David's young concubine, but Solomon regarded this as an adct of rebellion and had him killed.  (Kings 1-2).    

Supporting Adonijah were the "old guard"--General Joab and the priest, Abiathar;  and supporting Solomon were the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and the captain of David's bodyguard, Benaiah. 

Solomon ruled his country.  The Sanhedrin wasn't born until much later.  The earliest record of a Sanhedrin of the 71 male rabbinical judges is by Josephus who wrote of a olitical Sanhedrin convened by the Romans in 57 BCE.  Hellenistic sources generally depict the Sanhedrin as a political and judicial council headed by the country's ruler.  

The biggest problem with Solomon's unwise governmental decisions were taxing the people too much to complete the Temple and not paying his laborers.  Solomon must have paid his superintendant, though, Jeroboam I, of the tribe of Ephraim, who supervised forced laborers' work.  It was he who later led the revolt after Solomon had died because his son, Rehoboam, did not revise these problematic areas that the people were rebelling against.  He kept taxes that high, and kept forcing the laborers to work which was too much like slave standards.  

Jeroboam's revolutionary movement was at first suppressed, and he had to take refuge in Egypt.  Later, he led a delegation to speak with King Rehoboam representing the fated northern Israelite tribes which met him at Shechem, demanding changes in the system of taxation and forced labor.  

When that request was refused, the northern tribes declared their independence and anointed Jeroboam as their king.  Jeroboam's capital was first at Shechem, but was later removed to Penuiel in Transjordan and finally to Tirzah.  

Five years after his accession, 60 towns of his territory were ravaged by an Egyptian invasion.  

To combat the influence of the Jerusalem Temple (for he's now going against Moses's plan and making this more of an economical competition of businesses, he had the audacity to set up new shrines at Bethel and Dan with a similar cult but centering around the symbols of golden calves--a horrid idea since Moses had gone up the mountain to receive the 10 Commandments and when he was out of sight, the Israelites threw a Rave;  a party of dancing and drinking around a golden calf they had made. 

 Golden Calf: (Exodus 32:4, Exodus 32:8; Deuteronomy 9:16; Nehemiah 9:18). This was a molten image of a calf which the idolatrous Israelites formed at Sinai. This symbol was borrowed from the custom of the Egyptians. It was destroyed at the command of Moses (Exodus 32:20).

The Bible and talmudic sources are violently hostile to Jeroboam I who "sinned and caused Israel to sin."  Jeroboam was not a student of Moses' writings but a great worker and leader of men.  He had missed the whole idea of what Solomon had in mind with the Temple and where Judaism was going to be.  That was the beginning of their end.

By being divided, they were like chickens out of the coop about to be plucked by the lion nearby.  The Assyrians saw their weakness and attacked, taking most of the best of the people away with them to be used in another land in 721 BCE.  Shalmaneser V's had laid siege of Samaria and its capture by Sargon, his successor who annexed the country and then deported 27,290 of the Israelites to Assyria and Media, and then replaced them with people they wanted to rid themselves of, Syrian and Babylonian prisoners.  Judah itself was taken by them by 700 BCE.  

The only thing that stopped Sennacherib was a plague in his army and they returned home.  King Manasseh of Judah was exiled to Assyria in 652 BCE as a result of complicity in a plot against Ashurbanipal  (669-626 BCE). He was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 669 BCE to his death in 631.  He is generally remembered as the last great king of Assyria.  

After this time, Assyria declined rapidly and was succeeded by Babylon.  

Resource: 

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Tanakh, Stone Edition

ILTV on riots today in Israel

Why Did Solomon, The Wisest King of All, Go Overboard on Taxing His People?

 Nsadene Goldfoot                                     

 Solomon, known for his wisdom, making a decision about which woman was the real mother.

It's always bothered me that King Solomon, who ruled Israel from 961 to 920 BCE, with the reputation of being so  wise, was not politically savvy and taxed his people so much, even forcing them to work more than the expected amount, in order to get the Temple built?  "Solomon’s revenue came primarily from the agricultural surpluses produced by a rural population and from income derived from tolls received from caravans transiting through the kingdom and from commercial ventures."

The Exodus, according to Gentile figures, took place from about 1579 or 1578 BCE.  An astronomer ventured a date of 1445 BCE.  According to our Jewish time as recorded in the Torah, whenever it started, it took 40 years to move over 600,000 people from Egypt to Canaan, and that Moses started the trek at the age of 80 years.  

The Israelites entered the land with Joshua as Moses died at age 120 just outside of Canaan.  The people went through many judges before realizing that their known world had kings, and they were ready for their own.  Saul became their first king, and then David,  and finally David's son, Solomon.   David desires to construct a temple to G-d in which to house the Ark but, because he shed much blood, G-d denies David the opportunity to do so.

David dies at the age of about 70 after reigning for 40 years, and on his deathbed counsels Solomon to walk in the ways of G-d and to take revenge on his enemies.

Solomon was able to build the Temple and get it finished before he died.  480 years had passed between the  arrival of the Israelites and the plans of Moses for the Temple and actually getting the Temple built.  

Solomon had some problems to take care of first before starting the big project.  He was the the son of David and  Bathsheba, and was able to be crowned king before David had died with the help of his mother and Nathan, the prophet.  Solomon was not the first son, and had to take the throne before the eldest, Adonijah, expected to do so who may have not wanted to build the Temple.  

"Adonijah, 4th son of David was born at Hebron during the long conflict between David and the House of Saul. In 1 Kings, he briefly proclaimed himself king of Israel during the terminal illness of his father David. This happened after Absalom's (3rd son of David)'s death.  He had the support of Joab and Abiathar, the high priest, but was unsuccessful.  Later he sought to marry Abishag, David's concubine, but Solomon regarded this as an act of rebellion and had him killed.  (I Kings 1-2).  Absalom had killed his half-brother, Amnon to avenge the rape of is sister, Tamar.  He also started a rebellion against his brother, David.

         Solomon's Palace

Solomon had the plans laid down by Moses but had to get architects and builders sent him by Hiram of Tyre.  Hiram sent cedar-wood and craftsmen for Solomon's palace. He also contributed wood, gold and craftsmen to Solomon's Temple and residences, as well as sailors to his Red Sea fleet, receiving in exchange wheat, oil, and 20 Galilean cities.  Hiram was also the Tyrian metalworker, responsible for the metal-fittings of Solomon's Temple.   The work was completed in the 11th year of Solomon's reign. and ensured the central position of Jerusalem in the kingdom.  We know today that Tyre was the area of Lebanon.  

Tyre was on an island off the shore of Phoenicia.  It had a great harbor and was the rival of Sidon. Unfortunately, kings Hiram and Solomon jointly exploited the commerce between Elath and Ophir via the Red Sea.  Then their Tyrian princess Jezebel married Israel's king Ahab, and the religious and cultural influence of Tyre penetrated to Israel and even to Judah.

Solomon divided the country  into 12 districts and then built a series of fortresses, store-cities and chariot-cities such as Megiddo and Hazor.   "Solomon’s massive building program is described in 1 Kings chapters 6 to 9. When Solomon became king after the death of David, he chose not to expand the borders of the kingdom he inherited from his father. Thanks to the stable government Solomon received from the hands of David, he was able to embark on an ambitious building program that lasted twenty years."                                

To develop trade and commerce, he built a harbor at Elath on the Red Sea and, together with Hiram, sent a great fleet, the ships of Tarshish, to the land of Ophir.  From Ophir, Solomon imported precious stones and other valuables.  Ophir was famous for its gold and reached via Ezion-geber.  Where was Ophir?  Guesses have been an island in the Red Sea, north Africa, the east coast of the Arabian peninsula, and India.  

By today’s standards, Solomon was reputed to have a personal fortune in excess of $60 trillion. Much of this came in the form of pure gold. By the end of his sovereignty, estimations indicated that he owned 500 tons of gold. Modern gold usually comes in the form of bullion. But King Solomon used a portion of his gold to fashion items such as shields, cups, and plates.

There are several theories on the location of King Solomon’s mines, some more credible than others. Archaeologists have found copper mines in Israel and Jordan. They have claimed that those were really King Solomon’s mines and the source of his wealth. However, the search still continues for lack of conclusive evidence.

King Solomon’s temple, built in the mid 10th century BCE, was bedecked in gold. At his palace, builders constructed his throne from a combination of gold and other precious material, ivory. A gold footstool rested at its base. Leading up to his golden throne, a dozen life-size replicas of lions formed a guard of honor on six steps.

  Queen of Sheba meeting Solomon

He accumulated great wealth for the country by receiving gifts from foreign monarchs, such as what the Queen of Sheba had brought to him who herself came with a large retinue to visit Solomon because she had heard so much about him.  

In addition, trade prospered with neighboring states.  Large smelting furnaces in the southern areas produced copper and iron. 

 The royal house and court were built up with oriental magnificence, and large buildings housed the royal family and harem which consisted of 1,000 wives and concubines.  

Politically, Solomon rested on his father's achievements;  the realm extended from Egypt to the Euphrates River where Abraham had lived in Ur, and it was the most active realm in the entire region.  

Culturally, the arts of historiography, parable, and elegant writing were developed, and several biblical works such as the Song of songs, Ecclesiastes, and Psalm 72 were later attributed to Solomon, who himself achieved a widespread reputation for his wisdom. Otherwise, it's understood that David had written the Psalms.

Despite all these successes, the 1st signs of the country's deterioration can be traced back to his reign. "At the beginning of his building projects, forced labor was only imposed on the remnant of the Canaanite population:  “All the people left from the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites (these peoples were not Israelites), that is, their descendants remaining in the land, whom the Israelites could not exterminate–these Solomon conscripted for his slave labor force, as it is to this day” (1 Kings 9:20-21)" According to Deuteronomy 20:11, when the people of Israel entered the land of Canaan, they were supposed to conquer the Canaanites and submit them to serve you..."" “It shall be that if it responds to you in peace and opens for you, then the entire people found within it shall be as tribute for you, and they shall serve you." 

 The forced labor connected with the extensive building program that impoverished the country.   Several subject peoples, such as the Edomites and Arameans, began to revolt, and there is evidence of malcontent inside Israel.  these problems came to a head with Solomon's death in 920 BCE which was quickly succeeded by territorial loss and internal division. "King Solomon was born, according to the Bible, around 990 B.C.E.  King Solomon is believed to have died in 931 B.C.E. This means that King Solomon was somewhere around fifty-nine years old at the time of his death.". 

Judah's land included the wee Benjamin and Shimon, also so small it was inside of Judah.  

Evidently, Solomon was so intent on finishing the temple that he didn't notice the effect his high taxation had on his people .  It shows that one can never be too wise.  No doubt that Solomon had a very high IQ, but that doesn't mean one excels in all ways.  He was deficient in noticing how his decisions had an affect on his subjects.

However, that's pretty hard to swallow today that he wasn't aware of the attitude of the workers.  Jeroboam, the king' superintendent of the forced labor, surely must have told him of their problems with working and paying taxes and such.  Jeroboam even led the revolt against Solomon and became the king of Israel when they separated. Solomon had taken the task upon him and was one to see it through to the end, regardless of any hardships.  Either it was an ego problem or a religious and ego problem of a promise he made.  

Jeroboam was of the tribe of Ephraim, an Ephraimite, a very important tribe among the 12.  He saw that the influence of the Jerusalem Temple was very strong on the northern Tribes, so he thought he must combat the influence.  To do this he set up new shrines at Bethel and Dan with a similar cult but centering round the symbols of golden calves.  This was considered by the Bible and talmudic sources as sinning and causing Israel to sin.  It was completely against Mosaic teaching.  Why he chose to do such things in Samaria is beyond understanding.  He should have known better.  It shows that Solomon saw the northern tribes leaning toward the other surrounding religions in their environment and were becoming influenced as to what was going on at the moment, forgetting Moses and his teaching.  Maybe that's why Solomon was adamant about finishing the Temple.  Two thoughts here about why Solomon and his son kept the high taxes and forced labor in order to finish the Temple on time before his death.  

This led to the split between the 10 northern tribes not going along with Judea who included part of Simeon and Benjamin in their population.  The Big North vs the South Civil War; cousins fighting cousins.  The 2 kings that emerged were Solomon's son, Jeroboam 933-912 BCE  (who had continued his father's taxation schedule) and Rehoboam (933-917 BCE). 

Update to conclusion: thanks to frank discussion with son.1pm.  

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Tanakh,(Old Testament)  Stone Edition

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David#:~:text=David%20rules%20as%20king%20of,eldest%20surviving%20son%20with%20Haggith.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adonijah#:~:text=Adonijah%20was%20born%20at%20Hebron,throne%20to%20his%20brother%20Solomon.

https://www.historicmysteries.com/lost-mine-ophir/

https://www.gotquestions.org/Jedidiah-in-the-Bible.html

https://claudemariottini.com/2014/02/18/forced-labor-under-solomon/

Major Hadad of Lebanon and the Jews of Israel: Where it all started

Nadene Goldfoot                                       

Kings Solomon and Hiram and architect conversing about the Temple 

                                                               Of Solomon     

Hiram had extended his kingdom to Cyprus and Libya and maintained friendly relations with King David of Israel to whom he sent wood and craftsmen for his palace.  Hiram was the king of Tyre, a Phoenician city in today's Lebanon.  Tyre was the rival of the city, Sidon.  Phoenicians were an ancient people of Syria but had towns in today's Lebanon such as Beirut, Sidon, Tyre.  Their language was akin to Hebrew.  The writing used by them and the ancient Hebrews was changed just a little by the Greeks and so on to other Europeans.  The Egyptians controlled Phoenicia from about 1500 BCE to the days of the Hittites.  Hiram of Tyre was an ally of Solomon (961-920 BCE) and Ethbaal of Sidon was a friend of King Omri of Israel (887-876 BCE) .  
                                                  

                                                       
King Solomon, David's son, who reigned from 961 BCE to 920 BCE, was good friends with The King of Tyre-Hiram.  Hiram sent him architects and builders as well as the cedar trees of Lebanon that were so famous.  The work was finished in Solomon's 11th year of his reign and ensured the central position of Jerusalem in the kingdom.  Hiran had sent wood, gold and the craftsmen to Solomon's Temple and residences, as well as sailor to his Red Sea fleet, receiving in exchange wheat, oil and 20 Galilean cities.  

Oh Jezebel !  

                                                                     

Jezebel 843 BCE-daughter of Ethbaal, King of Sidon
Sidon was an ancient city in Lebanon, capital of Phoenicians called Sidonians.
She had introduced her native Baal cult into Israel and by doing
so, aroused the anger of the religious people led by Elijah.
She was said to be a bloodthirsty woman who persecuted the prophets and caused the death of Naboth a man with a garden plot who wouldn't sell it to the king and for that she had him killed.  She was killed in an uprising of King Jehu (842-814BCE) who had her killed as well as the priests of Baal.  She certainly influenced her husband, Ahab. 
 

Solomon and Hiram had commerce going jointly from Elath and Ophir through the Red Sea.  The Tyrian princess Jezebel married  King Ahab  of Israel (876-853 BCE).  She pushed her polytheistic religion onto the people of Israel and it even reached into Judah.  During the Assyrian 721 BCE and Babylonian periods 597-586 BCE , Tyre was denounced by the prophet Ezekiel.  The city suffered a series of seiges and in 332 BCE was captured by Alexander the Great.  

Under the Romans, Tyre, which had been endowed with a temple by King Herod, was a center of commerce and a purple dying business, and it had a Jewish population including rabbis.  The Palestinian Gaonate (heads of Jewish academies) was transferred to Tyre after 1071.  Benjamin of Tudela in about 1170 found there about 500 scholarly Jews, some owning ships, others engaged in glass-manufacture.  Tyre was held by the crusaders from 1124 to 1291 but subsequently declined and is now a small Lebanese port with a population of about 10,000 in by 1992.  

The Jewish population that existed in Lebanon had ancient roots.  It has been concentrated in Beirut.  Formerly there were communities in Tripoli, Tyre and Sidon.  Most of the Jews were in commerce.  
                                                          

Israel's War of Independence May 14 1948 

At the Good Fence of Lebanon after the War

During the Israel War of Independence of 1948, when Lebanese forces invaded Israel, some discriminatory regulations were impose on the Jews but removed after the fighting ended.  In 1944 there were 6,261 Jews in Lebanon.  Their numbers were augmented after 1948 by Jews from Syria, and the community in 1964 was about from 5,000 to 7,000 Jews.  After 1967's War, the community became much smaller.  Most of the 1,000 remaining in 1975 left during the Civil War of 1973  and by 1990 less than 100 remained.  What happened was the the Arab countries forced the Jews out and they moved to Israel. 

Update:  "When Christian Arabs ruled Lebanon, Jews enjoyed relative toleration. In the mid-50’s, approximately 7,000 Jews lived in Beirut. As Jews in an Arab country, however, their position was never secure, and the majority left in 1967."Most of the remaining 1,800 Lebanese Jews emigrated in 1976, fearing the growing Syrian presence in Lebanon would curtail their freedom. Most Jews went to Europe (particularly France), the United States and Canada."

When I was in Israel in 1980-to the end of 1985, a Major Hadad of Lebanon and his men were guarding the boarder between Lebanon and Israel, helping Israel in this way.   "An adherent of the Greek Catholic rite, Major Haddad broke away from the Lebanese Army in 1976 and operated a loosely-knit militia force of about 1,500 Christian, and some Moslem, soldiers that received arms, money and training from Israel. He was formally dismissed from the Lebanese Army seven years ago but was reinstated earlier this month.

In 1976 the Lebanese Civil war raged on and the Lebanese Army began to unravel.   Major Saad Haddad (Melkite Christian) in the South of Lebanon broke away and founded the Free Lebanon Army (FLA) or Free Lebanon Militia (FLM.)

"Headquartered in Marjayoun, Lebanon, the SLA's twenty-five hundred fighters were Maronite Christians (40%) and Shiʿa Muslims (60%), although Christians predominated among the officers." 

The militia has garrisons in Christian and Shiite Moslem villages in parts of southern Lebanon and makes patrols in the area, but it is not impressive  militarily, according to Western and Israeli analysts, and it has never became a real force in the region. Many local Shiite militiamen spurned the major's authority. It curbed Palestinian Infiltration

                                                              

Bachir Gemayel b: November 10, 1947,  was elected as president on August 23, 1982 and was assassinated on September 14, 1982.  He was only 34 years old, and a Maronite Christian, belonging to the minority group who is to rule the country.  "He was a senior member of the right-wing Christian Phalange party and the founder and supreme commander of the Lebanese Forces militia during the early years of the Lebanese Civil War (1975–90). He was the youngest president-elect and one of the most controversial figures in Lebanese history. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation blamed the Syrian Social Nationalist Party for the bombing that killed him."

Before Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Major Haddad's militia played an important role, in Israeli eyes, in curbing Palestinian guerrilla infiltration into northern Israel (where I lived) . But by early this year, United Nations and Israeli sources reported, the militia's significance for the Israelis lay chiefly in the system of informers that it maintained across southern Lebanon..  "  He died in 1984 from cancer at age 47.  He used to take his R&Rs in the army hospital in Haifa, which I had to use for a broken arm.  Israel had promised to care for his family if anything should happen to him.                                                        

The Lebanese civil war took place from 1975 to 1990 and claimed the lives of some 200,000 people which left Lebanon in ruins. This Civil War affected the whole Middle East.  Many from Syria found refuge in Egypt under Morsi's beck and call.  

The Maronite Christians of Lebanon "  derive their name from the Syriac Christian saint Maron, whose followers migrated to the area of Mount Lebanon from their previous location of residence around the area of Antioch, establishing the nucleus of the Syriac Maronite Church. Some Maronites argue that they are of Mardaite ancestry, but most historians reject such claims. Maronites were able to maintain an independent status in Mount Lebanon and its coastline after the Muslim conquest of the Levant, keeping their Christian religion, and even the distinctive Aramaic language as late as the 19th century.

             The Arabs had invaded Lebanon in 635 to 637.  

According to the Maronite church, there are approximately 1,062,000 Maronites in Lebanon, where they constitute up to 24% of the population. 
"About 50% of Lebanese are Maronites, but many are abroad. In Lebanon, Christians make up 35-40% of the country and Maronites make up at least 25% of the total Lebanese population." 

Under the terms of an informal agreement, known as the National Pact, between the various political and religious leaders of Lebanon, the president of the country must be a Maronite Christian. 

                                                       

A Maronite community of about 11,000 people lives in Israel. The 2017 Annuario Pontificio reported that 10,000 people belonged to the Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Haifa and the Holy Land and 504 people belonged to the Exarchate of Jerusalem and Palestine.  

Today, Hezbollah terrorists are in Lebanon.  They are in control.  
"BEIRUT (Reuters) - The powerful Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah on Tuesday urged the new government to launch talks with banks to bring down the cost of servicing the state’s massive public debt, setting out its view on the major problem in unusually clear terms."  "Although Hairi is still the Head of State in Lebanon, he is virtually powerless as Hezbollah and its allies are in firm control of most

Hezbollah Terrorists 

of the Lebanese government."  
                              
Their goal is still to destroy Israel.  "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Iran “controls” the new government of Lebanon via Hezbollah, during an address to a United Nations delegation in Jerusalem on Sunday. He made the remarks ahead of the delegates’ tour along the Lebanese border where Israel says it has uncovered Hezbollah infiltration tunnels."

Hizballah uses southern Lebanon as a base for terrorist attacks against Israel.


Resource:  The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/15/obituaries/maj-saad-haddad-47-israel-s-christian-ally-in-southern-lebanon.html
https://www.quora.com/What-do-Lebanese-think-of-the-South-Lebanon-Army
https://www.thoughtco.com/timeline-of-the-lebanese-civil-war-2353188
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maronites
https://bigleaguepolitics.com/hezbollah-now-controls-lebanon-america-still-gives-hundreds-of-millions/
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/iran-hezbollah-control-new-lebanese-government-claims-netanyahu/
https://www.fort-russ.com/2019/03/hezbollah-warns-israel-all-options-are-on-the-table/
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jews-of-lebanon
https://telaviv.academia.edu/EyalZisser
https://www.mepc.org/node/4873
Dr. Marc.  friend of author.