The Lebanese government should grow a spine

With parts of Lebanon starting to look a lot like Gaza, it is time the Lebanese government grew a spine and did its job to protect the Lebanese people. That involves three steps:

• Start telling the truth about Hezbollah and Israel.
• Disarm Hezbollah.
• Make peace with Israel.

Tell the truth

Tell the truth about the calamity that Hezbollah brought on Lebanon, including the assassination of many Lebanese politicians, journalists, and other leading figures. I documented a partial list three years ago, and it includes:

• Rafik Hariri, Lebanese Prime Minister.
• Pierre Amine Gemayel, cabinet minister.
• Wissam al-Hassan, the head of the information branch of Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces.
• Joseph Skaf, a Colonel in the Lebanese army.
• And so on.

Tell the truth that Hezbollah has destroyed Lebanon’s economy to take advantage of its people.

Tell the truth that Hezbollah is not a legitimate political party but an international criminal organization.

Tell the truth that far from defending Lebanon against Israel, Hezbollah is the reason why Israel is turning parts of Lebanon into rubble.

Tell the truth that Hezbollah advances the interests of the Iranian regime, not the interests of the Lebanese people.

Tell the truth that Israel is not a threat to Lebanon as long it isn’t attacked from Lebanon.

Tell the truth that peace with Israel would greatly benefit Lebanon.

Lebanese people need to hear these truths and so do Lebanon’s allies. The next steps depend on these truths being expressed clearly and openly.

Disarm Hezbollah

This would have been unthinkable a few weeks ago, but it is now possible.

As reported by the Times of Israel, “Khamenei was “deeply shaken” by the death of his close friend Nasrallah”, and “Khamenei praised Nasrallah and vowed to support Hezbollah, but did not threaten to attack Israel. He also indicated that Hezbollah would lead the response to the assassination with only support from Iran”.

In other words, the Iranian regime is washing its hands, and it is abandoning Hezbollah, a much-diminished organization, to fend for itself. That should not have surprised the Lebanese people because that’s exactly what the Iranian regime did to Hamas which is now holding by a thread and only because it still has hostages.

As was written in Lebanese newspaper L’Orient-Le Jour, “today we realize that Khamenei is an emperor who has no clothes”.

The Iranian regime’s axis of “resistance” is now in disarray. There has never been a better time to declare Hezbollah an illegitimate organization and to disarm it. All other Lebanese militias were disarmed long ago, but Hezbollah was left alone due to the big lie that it needed its arms to defend Lebanon against Israel. That lie has now been exposed more than ever.

Lebanon would need the help of other countries to do this, including the United States, France, and Saudi Arabia, but these countries will not lift a finger until they know that the Lebanese government is serious.

Make peace with Israel

As a final step, Lebanon must do something that it should have done long ago: sign a peace agreement with Israel.

Once the Lebanese government starts telling the truth, and once Hezbollah is no longer able to dictate what they do, reaching peace with Israel will be easy. There isn’t much to negotiate. Israel does not occupy any part of Lebanon and has no interest in holding any Lebanese territory.

Israel’s only demand is that the Lebanese government be in control of its own territory and not allow armed groups to attack Israel. Once Hezbollah is disarmed, that will be much easier to achieve.

Lebanon has suffered for decades due to internal divisions and due to Hezbollah. Its economy is in shambles. Peace with Israel would bring much needed relief, and it would offer opportunities that Lebanese people cannot even imagine at this point.

I realize that it is unlikely that the Lebanese government will find the courage to take these steps, but if the members of the government love their country and are honest with themselves, that is exactly what they’ll do.