The imminent war between Israel and Hezbollah creates ripple effects within Lebanese society and its inner discourse. The Jerusalem Post reached out to two Lebanese anti-war activists, Dr. Ghassan Bou Diab and A., who make efforts to promote peace between the ancient people from the two sides of the border, on and offline.
The interviews have been translated and edited for content:
I am 38 years old, originally from Damour, south of Beirut. I am active on Twitter advocating for peace between Israel and Lebanon, without allegiance to any party. Just a normal person.
In my previous life, I remember having much animosity towards Israel and Jews, but then I started to educate myself. Animosity originates in ignorance. When I met the first Jew during a trip to Europe, I went and asked him ‘why should I not hate you?’
Today, after speaking and interacting with many Jewish people, I know that we are the same, we have the same emotions towards life, and we have the same ideologies that we want to live in peace.
The Jewish community in Lebanon numbers around two dozen people, maybe, and they are forced to live as crypto-Jews. I was a Christian before, and during my process of educating myself I understood that much of the hate against Jews stems from religious contexts, both in Christianity and Islam. Jews are described in negative ways, even as inhumane. I had to unlearn everything I thought against the Jewish people, and I started questioning everything, which eventually led me to leave religion altogether.
First interactions with Jews
The first educating interactions I had with Jews online were through social media platforms such as Clubhouse and TikTok. I made a Jewish friend who directed me to religious texts such as Pirkei Avot, and I also read modern books such as Einat Wilf’s ‘The War of Return,’ and a book titled ‘Uprooted’ by Lyn Julius which tells the story of the ending of Jewish communities of the Middle East. We never learned about any of that in our country, never heard of the Lebanon pogrom, the Damascus affair or the Farhoud. We were always taught pseudo-global thinking, that Jews control everything. Now I know that they are in fact the number one persecuted people in the world.
Eventually all of this led me to question a lot. I had to unlearn all the lies I had accumulated in my life; throw it all away and start to look in the lens of the Jewish people.
My family environment was overall accepting of the changes I went through. I am originally from Damour, where a terrible massacre of Lebanese Christians took place at the hands of Palestinian terrorists in 1976. I wasn’t born yet but three of my mother’s brothers were killed, and she herself was traumatized as a massacre survivor. She never spoke of the events until I started going on my journey, though my father did talk a lot. They didn’t hide that those who liberated us and removed the so-called Palestinian occupiers were Israel, that the Jews kicked out the intruders and brought us, the native people, back to our lands. So for them, my journey was understandable. My mother was a bit worried, but she respects what I’m doing and frankly has no problem with Israel.
By the way, my friends were also whispering that they want Israel to come and eliminate those terrorists, but they can’t say it out loud.
I’m keeping my anonymity because I’m just a voice, and the person behind the voice doesn’t matter. I did publish a photo of my real face some time ago, to show that there is indeed a face behind the voice. Very few people know who I am, but many are sending messages to my X account saying that they support me and one day would want to speak out themselves.
I view my role as empowering Lebanese voices who want to speak out. I’m not charismatic myself, maybe articulate, but also a bit messy. I would love to see more Lebanese who would make articulate and well-thought cases for peace, enough so that other Lebanese who think similarly would join. People might call me ‘assimilated’ or not-representative, which is even more why we need more people like us who believe in peace to speak out. For their sake, I shut my own mouth and let them speak and empower their voices.
Threats only make me want to speak out more. I was shot in Lebanon for speaking against Hezbollah. I almost lost my life once, so what else is there to those threats? I was already halfway to losing my life. We must be bold and act. If not, the situation would be more dire.
In his last two speeches, Nasrallah was already addressing people like us who opt for normalizing relations, which only means that we can no longer be ignored. This is what frightens them most. I see it like a basketball match, it’s the end of the last quarter and we’re winning – so we can’t go into defense, only strengthen our offense.
Even those who don’t speak for normalization or friendship with Israel –articulate their views by saying ‘we don’t want war’. Before October 7 there were a handful of Lebanese who openly said that they want peace with Israel; but ever since the war started, they’re even less prone to do so, since it would look like treason.
However, I also hear Lebanese, Sunni, Shia and Druze, who participate in my X spaces sessions and say that they don’t want war but rather want peace with Israel. They hide their identities, which I of course respect, but it’s important to empower these voices as well.
Many are aware that Lebanon’s real enemy is Hezbollah. The notion is that the majority is against war, even if not pro peace. Hezbollah takes orders from nobody, even if the people tell them to stop, they won’t listen to you.
I call on expat Lebanese living abroad: if you don’t want our country to go to war then speak your mind. Do not remain silent. Our country is hijacked by a terror organization loyal not to Lebanon but to the IRGC, and it’s our duty to be the voice from outside, to project to the international community that Hezbollah is not Lebanon and Lebanon is not Hezbollah.
We have thousands of years of history with the Jewish community. If you don’t want to advocate for peace, at least advocate for rejecting a war. Lebanon is in an economic crisis, living off help from those who live outside. So now it’s time to raise your voice and not only your money. The Lebanese expat community, in the US, in Brazil, in Europe – they all know how it is to live openly and freely in the world, just the way Lebanon used to be when we were nicknamed ‘the Paris of the Middle East.’ Yet now Hezbollah made us lose our identity. So your duty is to speak, be bold. Don’t share your names if you don’t want to. Hide your identity but raise your voice, be a voice.
We need to get rid of Hezbollah, yet my wish is that no Israelis die on my soil. My people must liberate themselves, not through others. After the civil war there were no clear winners, so our people never tasted liberation from invaders. We need to liberate ourselves fully. If Israel will end up being the ones liberating Lebanon from Hezbollah – it would be another failure for us.
We should deal with each other as human beings. Jews know how it is to struggle endlessly in order to live. Hopefully we can talk as human beings instead of dehumanizing each other. I know how the Jewish people are open for a peace between Lebanon and Israel; now it’s time for us to be open about our longing for peace as well.
A. is a peace activist operating on social media, and a kitchen chef in profession. He hopes to promote peace between Israel and Lebanon and regularly hosts joint sessions for Lebanese and Israelis on his social media platforms.