Links - 12th May 2026 (3 - Lebanon War)

dan linnaeus on X - "France’s answer to Hezbollah murdering two French peacekeeping soldiers on Lebanese soil: sanction Israel. Europe is in a state of delirium. Let’s break this down.  First, the actual development is narrower than what’s circulating on social media. French FM Jean-Barrot is talking about EU sanctions targeting individuals and entities they hold responsible for violence against Palestinians, saying it could be adopted “in the coming days” now that Hungary’s new prime minister may lift the longstanding veto that had blocked them. Barrot has been pushing for these sanctions for about a year.  Separately, France and Sweden have joined five other EU states in pushing a proposal to ban Israeli products from settlements in Judea and Samaria (formerly TransJordan’s illegally annexed ‘West Bank’). The Franco-Swedish non-paper is urging the European Commission to consider tariffs on settlement products and import restrictions through export licenses, citing the announcement of 30 new settlements as the tipping point.  What underpins both is absolute delirium -- nothing less. France is arguing Israeli settlement expansion is destroying the physical and political viability of a future Palestinian state. The Franco-Swedish document states that “Israel’s settlement policy in the West Bank seriously undermines” the two-state vision. This inverts reality in serious ways.   First, the two-state solution is not a given. It’s a political aspiration about the final status of Oslo. Quebec ‘98 and Iccpr Art.1 make internal self-determination a legible legal alternative to the 2ss. More importantly, the PLO has simply abandoned its mandate under Oslo to forge the institutional capacity or adhere to the direct bilateral mandate of Oslo. Instead of building legitimacy through governance and engagement with Israel, it has developed a curriculum that incites violence, entrenched a $300 million plus budget for rewarding terrorism, and internationalized the conflict through lawfare and delegitimization campaigns in int’l fora. It has rejected a state at least three separate times since Oslo.   Moreover, it signed onto the Beijing Declaration in 2024 alongside Hamas, Islamic Jihad and eleven other Palestinian factions, many of which are designated foreign terrorist organizations. This is the same template agreement that was signed in 2001 and then in Cairo in 2005 and then again in 2007 and then once again in Cairo in 2017, and now again this time only in Beijing. The aim is clearly to reset the same outcome of the Israeli unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. This is not a peace building effort. It is an effort to restart the conflict in pursuit of the same old jihadist aim of destroying Israel.  Israel is pursuing a different outcome. It seeks to convert the geographic depth secured by the yellow line into durable strategic depth by working with local partners who can break out of the empty shell of a captured Ncag and the PLO’s corruption.    In Lebanon, Israel is using military pressure and Washington’s leverage to push for the Lebanese government to dismiss Gen. Haykal and restructure the Lebanese Armed Forces so they can take back their sovereignty from Iranian controlled militias like Hezbollah - the same terrorists who just killed two French soldiers and wounded others in close quarter ambushes on Unifil units. The same terrorists who began firing thousands of rockets, missiles and drones at Israeli towns and villages on Oct 8 2023 that led to the evacuation of nearly 90,000 Israelis.    Franco-Israeli relations have already deteriorated considerably. Israel announced on Mar 31 that it’s ceasing defense procurement from France, with Macron’s decision to bar US military aircraft from French airspace during Epic Fury as a breaking point. As long as France and its European partners continue to reward the wrong behavior and punish Israel for ensuring its security, relations promise to deteriorate further."

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib | Facebook - "Israel is back in control of southern Lebanon 26 years after it left in 2000, just as Israel is back in control of the Gaza Strip 21 years after it left it in 2005. This control, military occupation, or whatever you want to call it, is the direct result of irresponsible and criminal decisions made by Hezbollah and Hamas terrorists who failed to leverage newly acquired freedom and territories in pursuit of nation-building, sustainable futures, and peace. “Resistance” was not only a slogan, but it became an industrial complex, with money, narratives, propaganda, foreign interference, and terror infrastructure.  Even if you believe in resistance, that should have stopped in Lebanon after 2000, and it should have stopped in Gaza after 2005 – the whole point of resistance is to no longer live under a direct military occupation. What kind of pathetic, ill-conceived, unintelligent, and moronic resistance invites the occupation back into one’s country decades later, causing complete and utter devastation? This is further proof that Hezbollah and Hamas, while made up of and endorsed by many in Lebanon and Palestine, were never truly organic to their respective societies and only existed as tools for foreign agendas, masters, and enablers."
Terrorism supporters tell us that Israel is trying to execute their longtime Greater Israel project by annexing Lebanese territory. Of course, they have a very poor understanding of history as usual. Presumably the cope here is that they need plausible deniability, which is why they left Lebanon for 26 years

Peter Daou on X - "I was ten when bombs began falling on Beirut. I'm 60. How much can the Lebanese people suffer? ENOUGH. 🇱🇧"
Hussain Abdul-Hussain on X - "50 years ago, the bombs that fell on Beirut were Palestinian bombs, followed by Syrian bombs, followed by Iranian bombs, and all of them threw bombs from Lebanon onto Israel, inviting Israeli bombs into the fiasco.  You probably needed someone to explain this to you since you were too little to remember."

Hicham Bou Nassif on X - "I too grew up in Lebanon. When I was only five years old, Palestinian gunmen, in coordination with local militias, helped ethnically cleanse Christians from southern Mount Lebanon. In September 1983, they and their allies displaced tens of thousands of Christians from the Shouf and Aley regions, slaughtering at least 1,500 people in the process.  This was not an isolated episode. In January 1976, Palestinian factions carried out what was then the largest act of ethnic cleansing of the Lebanese Civil War in the coastal city of Damour. At least 300 civilians—women, children, and the elderly—were murdered, and thousands more were driven from their homes. These were Lebanese civilians, killed in their own country by foreign armed groups.  @TaghridAlMawed  should be ashamed—unequivocally—for two reasons. First, she is falsifying history by portraying Palestinians as nothing more than victims in Lebanon. That is a distortion. Palestinian militias were not passive actors; they were perpetrators. They helped trigger the civil war in 1975,  killed thousands of Lebanese Christians, contributed to the fragmentation of the country, and later turned their guns on one another (Abu Musa vs. Arafat) as well as on Lebanese factions such as Shia Amal during the War of the Camps (1985–1988). The scale of violence and devastation they inflicted on Lebanon—a country that had taken them in—cannot simply be erased or rewritten.  Second, and even more reprehensible, is her willingness to exploit the deaths of two recently killed individuals in Lebanon for political point-scoring. These deaths occurred in a context entirely unrelated to a civil war that ended 36 years ago. Yes, Pierre Moawad was a Lebanese Forces activist. But unlike Palestinian gangs in the camps, or Hezbollah, the Lebanese Forces have long  disarmed and operate today as a political party. To circulate images of the newly dead in order to resurrect old conflicts and weaponize their deaths is not just irresponsible—it is morally indefensible. Then again I am not surprised because I expect no better from extremist Palestinian activists.  @TaghridAlMawed : shame on you."

Israel’s Message to Southern Lebanon: Shiites Must Go - The New York Times - "many worry about the repercussions when the war ends, fearing retaliation from Hezbollah or others who could see compliance as collaboration. When leaders in Marjayoun, a hilltop Christian town in south Lebanon, asked displaced Shiites to leave, they said they began receiving veiled threats from people they believed to be affiliated with Hezbollah. “Some people were saying: ‘We will leave now, but you’ll see what happens after the war. We’ll deal with you after the war,’” said Sister Stephanie Hadad, who runs a cloister in a nearby town, Hasbaya. The town is currently hosting hundreds of displaced Shiites, and its leaders fear that it, too, will soon receive calls from Israeli military officials telling it to expel them. Those threats have prompted some Christians to view more favorably the possibility of an Israeli occupation of the south when the war ends, seeing it as a bulwark against retaliation, Sister Hadad said. Others have privately expressed an openness to Israel out of sheer exhaustion from Hezbollah’s decades-long iron grip on the Lebanese state."
Hend Amry on X - "Jewish troops will be looking for Muslims hidden in the attics of Christians. Let that sink in."
Even if the reporting on Israel calling on villages to expel Shi'ites is accurate, it's telling that Hezbollah is threatening the villagers - clearly they know that Israel is looking for Hezbollah fighters

Bechara Gerges on X - "🚩France’s exclusion from the Washington Israeli-Lebanese talks should have been a diplomatic scandal, a historic ally locked out of the most significant Lebanon negotiation in thirty years. But Beirut didn’t protest, didn’t lobby for French inclusion, and didn’t even notice. That silence is the real verdict.  France spent decades posturing as Lebanon’s guardian, hosting summits, drafting frameworks, and performing concern from the chandeliered rooms of the Élysée, while Hezbollah’s arsenal swelled from fifteen thousand rockets to two hundred thousand under the watch of French UNIFIL troops who enforced nothing.  Macron proposed Paris as the venue for these very talks, drafted a recognition plan, and personally called Aoun, Salam, and Berri, and previously Mikati, to choreograph a French-led diplomatic triumph.  Today, Lebanon and Israel are sitting across from each other at the State Department in Washington, brokered by Marco Rubio and mediated by the American Ambassador to Beirut, Michel Issa, who is of Lebanese origin and remains a Lebanese.  France was not just sidelined, it was rendered irrelevant by its own record of performing diplomacy without producing a single enforceable outcome. The bridge Macron wanted to claim credit for was built by others, and the cruelest part isn’t that France was excluded, it’s that nobody in Beirut objected."
Defy The Lie on X - "France was the original protector of Lebanon's Christians — its historic mission since the 1860 French intervention and the League of Nations Mandate (assigned 1920–1923). General Gouraud created Greater Lebanon on 1 Sept 1920 as a safe haven for Maronites. Yet it stood by as Iran’s Hezbollah occupied the south and slowly cleansed Christians, dropping their share from ~55% (1932) to ~33% today. Frances constant capitulation to Iran and its genocidal intent against Christians not just Lebanon but also Africa make France a disgusting morally perverted entity that should be ignored at every opportunity. Beirut didn’t even notice. Silence is the verdict."

Lubdha Khandelwal on X - "One would think the ambassador was referring to Inspector Clouseau here."
Amichai Stein on X - "Following @Jerusalem_Post story, Ambassador Yechiel Leiter addressed Israel’s refusal to involve the French in the negotiations: “We do not want the French anywhere near these talks—keep them as far away as possible. They are unnecessary and do not have a positive influence.”"

Irene Rusman on X - "🔥Did you know that 40% of Hezbollah’s "resistance" actually lands on Lebanese homes? The data shows a terrifying reality: the biggest threat to Lebanese safety might be coming from within. 🇱🇧⚠️ .@AvichayAdraee - 🚨Hezbollah Against the Lebanese:
• 40% of the rockets fired by Hezbollah in the so-called "#Consumed_Chaff" barrage landed inside Lebanon, falling on the heads of Lebanese citizens!
• Earlier this week, the terrorist group Hezbollah launched a rocket barrage toward Israeli territory; one of them hit a home in the village of Qlaiaa in southern Lebanon.
• A few days ago, Hezbollah members attempted to exploit a building in another Lebanese Christian village to carry out a terrorist attack. The IDF spotted and eliminated them.
O Lebanese people, you are the victims of Hezbollah—both by its decisions and its attacks."
Damn Israel!

Harrison H. Smith ✞ on X - "Lebanon doesn’t have nuclear ambitions or a ballistic missile program. They don’t chant “Death to America.” They didn’t participate in October 7th. But they have been slated for total eradication regardless. All the excuses are just a mask for ruthless expansion and murder."
Jonathan Elkhoury- جوناثان الخوري on X - "As a lebanese- you’re so full of a shit.  You clearly have no idea what you’re talking about but you want to seem smart so you repeat what you heard on TikTok and pro Hezbollah propaganda. Israel disengaged from Lebanon twice already, and there is no intention for Israel to occupy Lebanon.  In 1982 Israel invaded Lebanon because of the PLO that dragged Lebanon to war on behalf of the Palestinians.  Israel stayed in Lebanon because Hezbollah started to operate against Israel executing terror attacks and being funded and equipped by the Islamic republic of Iran with their intention to destroy Israel.  In May 2000 israel withdrew from south Lebanon 100% although Syria still occupied Lebanon that time and Hezbollah was fully equipped and controlling many part of Lebanon.  In 2006 Hezbollah kidnapped Israeli soldiers and Israel opened an operation to return them, after 33 days Israel withdrew from south Lebanon.  In 2023-2024 Hezbollah joined Hamas after the October 7th massacre, starting to shoot rockets at Israel on October 8th. Israel invaded to push Hezbollah back and called for their disarmament. Agreement Israel agreed on. Leading to the evacuation of almost all Israeli troops from Lebanon with some strategic points till the job is done.  Now in 2026 Hezbollah launched again missiles at Israel joining THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC.  Israel never attacked Lebanon because of Lebanon. Israel and Lebanon have no reason for wars between them. Israel was always dragged to respond.  Now go read some history books, idiot."

Ahmed Al-Khalidi on X - "Lebanon is one of the most artificial states in the Middle East.  It was carved out by France in 1920, drawn on a map to create a Christian-majority state in the Levant. The borders weren't based on geography, culture, or shared identity. They were based on French colonial interests. And it's been falling apart ever since.  Within this tiny patch of land you have Maronite Christians, Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims, Druze, Greek Orthodox, Armenians. At least 18 recognized sects, all crammed into a political system that distributes power by religious quota. The president must be Maronite. The prime minister must be Sunni. The speaker of parliament must be Shia. It's not a nation. It's a negotiated ceasefire pretending to be a country.  And we know what happens when the negotiation breaks down. From 1975 to 1990, Lebanon tore itself apart in a civil war that killed over 100,000 people. The state has never truly recovered. It can't deliver electricity, can't manage its currency, can't control its own borders, and can't exercise sovereignty over its own territory because Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy, operates a parallel military and government in the south and the Bekaa Valley.
 Here's an interesting pov:  Stop pretending Lebanon is one country.  Split it. Let the Shia-majority areas in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, where Hezbollah actually rules, become their own entity. Let them own their war with Israel openly, under their own flag, with their own resources. No more hiding behind a "Lebanese state" that never sanctioned this fight and has no power to stop it.  And let the rest of Lebanon, the Christians, the Druze, the Sunnis, and yes, the many Shia who want nothing to do with Hezbollah's wars breathe. These communities have no quarrel with Israel. Many of them resent Hezbollah far more than they resent anyone across the southern border. Without Hezbollah dragging the entire country into conflict, a peace agreement between this Lebanon and Israel wouldn't just be possible. It would be natural.  Will this be an easy solution? No. But it would make life dramatically easier for the majority of Lebanese people who have been held hostage by a conflict they never chose. Man-made borders drawn by colonial powers a century ago are not sacred. They're not working. And the people paying the price are the millions of Lebanese who never asked to be a front line in Iran's war. Let the people who want war have their war. And let everyone else have peace."

Lebanese MP Commends Israel for Mitigating Civilian Casualties - "Lebanese MP Camille Chamoun said in an April 2, 2026 interview with SBC Lebanon on YouTube that Lebanon can freeze relations with Iran if it does not comply with demands to remove its ambassador from Beirut. He added that there is nothing humane about war, but that Israel takes measures to avoid targeting innocent civilians; otherwise, instead of 2,000 casualties in the latest escalation, there would have been 100,000. Chamoun said that this indicates Israel is not trying to annihilate the Shiites in Lebanon, otherwise it would not give early warnings before attacks."
This won't stop the terrorism supporters continuing their lies

  Meme - "Peace talks be like...
Israel as man: Peace?
Lebanon as tradwife: Okay,
Hezbollah as fat woman with rifle: She's not interested!"

  Craig Mokhiber on X - "‘Hezbollah is not an Iranian proxy’: ex-UN director https://t.co/aPOz4BidKd via @YouTube"
Ashish Prashar on X - "Listen to every word from my dear friend @CraigMokhiber. Hezbollah are born from occupation and resist to protect Lebanon and humanity from this barbaric Israeli regime."
I was mocked by many people for pointing out that some people still deny Hezbollah is linked to Iran

Luai Ahmed on X - "One IDF soldier destroys a statue of Jesus:
- The IDF condemns it
- The Prime Minister of Israel condemns it
- Israelis condemn it
Thousands of Hamas terrorists slaughter 1,200 Jews on Oct 7:
- Hamas leaders celebrate it
- Most Gazans celebrate it
- The world half-condemns it"

Israel Defense Forces on X - "A short while ago, in full coordination with the local community of Debel in southern Lebanon, the damaged statue was replaced by IDF troops. The Northern Command worked to coordinate the replacement of the statue from the moment it received the report of the incident. The IDF expresses deep regret over the incident, and is working to ensure that it does not happen again in the future."
Strxwmxn on X - "My only two comments about this debacle are that
1. The fact that the world goes apoplectic over minor Israeli misconduct while routinely ignoring far worse atrocities elsewhere shows a double standard steeped in bigotry.
2. The fact that the world goes apoplectic over minor Israeli misconduct alone should make such misconduct completely unacceptable."
Salomon Okinon on X - "How about also the counterfactual: if this is the worst (for weeks at least) Israel has done on camera, what does it say about the myriad of allegations (geno, raping dogs, etc.)"
Strxwmxn on X - "I keep hearing this about the Most Documented Genocide in History™, yet still not a single bit of media showing this."
MichaelVanHegen on X - "By "documented" they mean unreliable testimonies with no hard data and opinions by NGOs. Also sad pictures of destroyed buildings"

  Moy Miz on X - "The Israeli soldier story went global because it’s a deviation from the norm, it’s news because it’s unexpected. 157 Nigerian Christians butchered by jihadists since Palm Sunday didn’t make the news because apparently, it wasn’t unexpected. Think about that. We’ve set the bar so low for Islamic terrorists that mass murder doesn’t even register.   We need to wake the fuck up."

  Nadia Whittome MP on X - "A day after the US-Iran ceasefire was declared, Israel dropped 160 bombs on Lebanon in 10 minutes, killing at least 254 people and wounding over 1100. Israel is once again acting outside the bounds of international law because it knows it won’t face consequences from its allies. The failure to act against Israel’s genocide in Gaza has enabled this kind of indiscriminate violence."
Terrorist supporter logic: if the US & Iran sign a ceasefire, Israel bombing Lebanon violates it. I guess they are finally admitting that Hezbollah is an Iranian proxy, at least

  leekern on X - "The worst people on planet earth right now are those telling Israel not to bomb Hezbollah whilst not even displaying the faintest interest in suggesting an alternative to tackling the muslim fundamentalists firing rockets at Israel and vowing to exterminate them.   Scum like @Keir_Starmer  are basically saying “Die, Jews. Die and don’t complain”.  Morally disingenuous scum"
Jose on X - "The answer should be simply - Israel will stop bombing them 24 hours after they stop bombing Israel, as long as they keep firing thw timer doesnt reset"
Meanwhile, terrorism supporters are still denouncing Starmer because they can't attack juice in the streets

M.A. Rothman on X - "𝐀 𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐄 𝐌𝐏 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 “𝐈𝐒𝐑𝐀𝐄𝐋 𝐈𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐎𝐂𝐈𝐃𝐄” 𝐋𝐈𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝟑𝟖 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐒: “𝐈𝐅 𝐈𝐒𝐑𝐀𝐄𝐋 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍, 𝐖𝐄’𝐃 𝐒𝐄𝐄 𝟏𝟎𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝟐,𝟎𝟎𝟎”
This is what moral clarity sounds like when it comes from inside Lebanon itself. Lebanese MP 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧 — son of the former Lebanese President of the same name — went on camera and said what the entire UN, the entire press corps, and half the American Democratic caucus refuses to say (MEMRI TV, L’Orient Today). Chamoun’s full statement: “𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘐𝘴𝘳𝘢𝘦𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘓𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘯, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, 𝘸𝘦’𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦 100,000 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧 2,000” Chamoun also said Israel’s continued operational presence in Lebanon is 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐇∗𝐳𝐛∗𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐡 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬 (MEMRI TV). And on reconstruction he was equally direct: “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯” — meaning H∗zb∗llah — 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 (MEMRI TV). The math Chamoun is quoting is devastating to the “𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦” narrative. Israel has conducted 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬 against H∗zb∗llah positions across Lebanon over the past year and a half, including the April 8 Operation Eternal Darkness package of 𝟏𝟔𝟎 𝐛𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝟏𝟎 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 (IDF, Wikipedia). The IDF’s SOP is to issue 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐟-𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐬 before striking residential-adjacent targets. Total Lebanese casualties over the entire 40-day conflict sit in the 𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 — not the 𝟏𝟎𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎+ 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐬 that would be produced by a deliberate annihilation campaign (Amnesty, Al Jazeera). Chamoun’s payment for telling the truth was immediate: a 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 “𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐞” (L’Orient Today). In a country run by H∗zb∗llah’s political wing, the crime is not genocide denial. The crime is telling the truth about who would be dead if Israel actually wanted them dead.
𝐀 𝐋𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐌𝐏, 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐜, 𝐨𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐢𝐥, 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢-𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨. 𝐈𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐃𝐅 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝟏𝟎𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝟏𝟎𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐤 — 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐇∗𝐳𝐛∗𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐡, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭."