Lebanese president challenges Hezbollah, advocates for diplomacy with Israel

The Jewish Independent ^ | 18 June 2026 | Shahar Burla

[CondoleezzaProtege]

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun did something almost unheard of last week. In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour,

He looked directly into the camera and addressed the Israeli public:

"Are you fed up with war since 1948?" he asked. "Do you really want to live in peace? Let's sit and talk."

In some of his strongest remarks since becoming president, he directly accused Iran of treating Lebanon as a bargaining chip. "It's not your country, it's our country," Aoun said when discussing Tehran's role in Lebanon.

President Isaac Herzog welcomed the Lebanese leader's comments and reiterated Israel's stated desire for peace with Lebanon.

More noteworthy was the reaction from parts of Israeli civil society. Several peace organisations, including Women Wage Peace, the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families Forum, the Women's Cabinet – Security, Policy and Society, and Mothers' Cry, organised an open letter responding directly to Aoun's appeal. More than 1,250 Israeli women signed the initiative.

Dear Mr President,

We heard your message to the Israeli public in your interview with Christiane Amanpour, and especially your question: Do we really want to live in an endless war? Our answer is no.

An Open Letter from Israeli Women to Lebanese President Joseph Aoun

[CondoleezzaProtege]

[Sacajaweau]

btt

[montag813]

President Aoun is a Maronite Christian. Under Lebanon’s retarded constitution, the president must be Christian, but the Prime Minister must be a Sunni Muslim and the Parliament Speaker a Shi’a Muslim. Of course nearly the entire nation used to be Christian, until successive Muslim-caused civil wars tore the beautiful nation apart.

[nitzy]

Of course nearly the entire nation used to be Christian, until successive Muslim-caused civil wars tore the beautiful nation apart.

When did that start happening?

[Carry_Okie]

Let’s hear it for nationalism!

[Atlantic Friend]

In the 1970s, partly because of an influx of Palestinian refugees fleeing the zones occupied by Israel after the 6-day War. Bear in mind that while Christians (of different churches) composed the majority of the population, it’s not as if they were alone in Lebanon, hence the faith-based division of power.

[montag813]

When did that start happening?

The first Lebanese civil war was in 1860. 10,000 Christians were massacred.

[BeauBo]

“successive Muslim-caused civil wars tore the beautiful nation apart.”

“When did that start happening?”

The real watershed was when the Jordanian King kicked the PLO out of Jordan in 1970/71 (called “Black September”). The highly militarized and radical leftist PLO largely ended up in Lebanon, along with a witches brew of other violent groups with Syrian, Iraqi, Soviet and Iranian backing; all promptly began destabilizing Lebanon, with a string of political assassinations and terrorist attacks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_September

[faithhopecharity]

without IDF firmly in place south of Beirut, the poor rump of a “country” we call Lebanon has zero chance of survival

(and the remaining Christians that the Islamicists haven’t already murdered or chased out.. would have to leave...)

meanwhile, France (supposedly Lebanon’s protector) USA and other western nations have clearly demonstrated that they don’t give a Dam* about the Christians....perhaps with France it is because they’ve already pretty much been Sold out to the same Islamicist invasion

[nitzy]

And then they lived in peace for 100 years until the region was thrown into turmoil post WW2

[montag813]

And then they lived in peace for 100 years until the region was thrown into turmoil post WW2

Nope. During WWI, the occupying Ottomans stole all the animals and food of the natives, leading to a massive famine - mostly of Christians - and 100,000 deaths from starvation.

In 1920, Syria tried to take it over, until they lost to the French.

In 1958, Muslims started an insurrection against the Christian government, killing hundreds. 5,000 U.S. Marines had to put them down.

And of course, in 1970-71, after the PLO murdered the Jordanian Prime Minister, Jordan expelled Palestinians. About 30% fled to Kuwait, the rest to Lebanon, where they started a civil war. Kuwait later expelled 287,000 Palestinians in 1991.