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.

SYRIA and LEBANON: In Ancient Days Was Phoenicia

Nadene Goldfoot
Syria and Lebanon are in the news today.  Syria has killed from 70,00 to 100,000 of its own citizens in President Bashar Assad's effort to maintain his presidential- monarchy since March 2011. Now a high ranking military officer has left him and has gone to Jordan.  Morale is breaking down.  They are also stepping up its use of widely banned cluster munitions which kill and wound their civilians.   Lebanon is affected by terrorists that have taken over the country.    The Syrian opposition has taken over an intelligence compound near the Golan Heights.  Syria and Israel have had a ceasefire since 1974.  Problems are starting with stray rockets landing in the Golan lately.  Aljazeera reports that 4 million of the 22 million population have been displaced.  Long ago both countries were simply a part of Phoenicia.

The religion of the Phoenicians was  the same religion that the Canaanites followed as described in the bible and as found in Ugaritic poetry.  The chief gods or deities were Baal, lord of fertility and the rains, and Astarte, goddess of fertility.  Anat was the goddess of war, and Melkarth was the patron-god of Tyre.  They worshipped under trees and on hills.  They also had temples with pictures.  The religious practice included the sacrificing of children to Moloch.  They dedicated religious prostitutes to their temples.

Tomorrow, Syria has the audacity to bring up Israel before the UN for harming the children in the Golan Heights, children that are Israeli citizens since the area has been annexed by Israel.  Like Golda Meier, former Prime Minister of Israel said once, "

Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.  What Syria has done to its own children is what they are now claiming Israel is doing to theirs which of course is a downright lie.  .  

.
Phoenicians  lived along the Syrian-Eretz Yisrael coast.  Arvad, Beirut, Sidon, Tyre, Gebal (Byblos), Simirro and Sin were their main towns.  At times they expanded north toward the later Antioch and south to the Carmel and even to Jaffa.   It is thought that originally the Phoenicians came from earlier Canaanites.  They spoke a Canaanite dialect.

The language they spoke was close to Hebrew as we can tell from inscriptions.  Their writing was also similar to ancient Hebrew and was modified by the Greeks and then by other Europeans.

The Egyptians controlled Phoenicia from the time when the Hyksos of 1500 BCE were expulsed to the time of Rameses III when Phoenician cities were ruled by the Hittites.

Hiram of Tyre (10th century BCE) sent wood and craftsmen for David's palace, and  was closely connected to King Solomon of Israel.  He had cedar trees of Lebanon to give to King Solomon for his temple along with gold and craftsmen.  Tyrian metal-workers made the metal-fittings of Solomon's Temple. The Tyrian princess Jezebel married Ahab, king of Israel and son of Omri ruled (876-853 BCE)  and this caused religious and cultural influence into Israel and even to Judah.

In the 8th century BCE Assyria subjugated most of the cities.  Later, Phoenicia was brought into the Persian Empire.  Greek influence and Hellenization spread quickly in Phoenicia.

By 64 BCE Pompey brought them all under Roman rule.

The Phoenicians were known for their ships and for trading with the known world.  They discovered distant lands and brought them products of the Middle East.  They established colonies from Cyprus to Carthage and Spain and paid tithes to Tyre.  Their competition was the Greeks.

Some of their specialties were purple-dyes and glass manufacture.  Egypt and Greece gave them inspiration in their art.  "The Phoenicians were the first state-level society to make extensive use of the alphabet.  The Phoenician phonetic alphabet  is generally believed to be the ancestor of almost all modern alphabets.  It did not have any vowels in it, though. which were added later by the Greeks.  "
influence.

"Spencer Wells  has conducted genetic studies that demonstrate that male populations of Lebanon,  Syria, Malta, Sicily,  Spain and other areas settled by Phoenicians, as well as the main Jewish populations, including modern Israel, share a common m89 chromosome (We all have 23 chromosomes).  Y type. m89 first arose around 40,000 years back; a lineage marker of 90 to 95 percent of all non-Africans who migrated out of Africa and settled in the fertile lands of the Middle East and beyond.

Pierre Zalloua and Wells (2004), under the auspices of a grant from National Geographic Magazine examined the origins of the Phoenicians. The debate between Wells and Zalloua was whether haplogroup J2 (M172) should be identified as that of the Phoenicians or that of its "parent" haplogroup M89 on the YDNA phylogenetic tree. Initial consensus suggested that J2 be identified with the Canaanite-Phoenician (Northwest Semitic) population, with avenues open for future research. As Wells commented, "The Phoenicians were the Canaanites — and the ancestors of today's Lebanese."   It was reported in the PBS description of the National Geographic TV Special on this study entitled "Quest for the Phoenicians" that ancient DNA was included in this study as extracted from the tooth of a 2,500 year-old Phoenician mummy.  

Based on the genetic dating methods utilized by Zalloua,  the J2 genetic marker dates back to around 12,000 years and stem from the Levant. The National Geographic Genographic Project  linked haplogroup J2 to some ancient towns such as Jericho, Tel -el-Sultan, ca. 8500 BC and indicated that in modern populations, haplogroup J2 is found in North Africa, Southern Europe, and the Middle East. J2  alone is found at a frequency of (20%) in Southern Italians, and at lesser frequencies in Southern Spain (10%). Both haplogroup J, to whose descendants originally appeared exclusively in the Mediterranean area around 10,000 years ago, and its subgroup J2 constitute a combined frequency of about (30%) among Jews."  It is J1 that is called the Cohen gene, linking men to Aaron, Moses's brother, both Levites.

Resource:  The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenicia
Oregonian newspaper 3/17/13  page A8.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/03/201331720613911289.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria