the Lebanese of Israel torn between the fear of war and the hope of returning to their native land

The small Lebanese Christian community in Israel is following the situation very closely. Mostly driven out of Lebanon in 2000, they support the Jewish state in the hope of one day being able to return to Lebanese soil.

They live in Israel, torn between their adopted country and their native land. The Lebanese in Israel are watching the intensity of the conflict increase further on the northern front, between the Jewish state and Hezbollah. Daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Lebanese Hezbollah have intensified in recent days, in the midst of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Palestinian Hamas, of which Hezbollah is an ally.

Thursday June 6, the Israeli commander of the northern zone, Ori Gordine, spoke saying that his men were “loans” to fight against Lebanon. Particular situation for the small Lebanese Christian community in Israel, essentially driven out in 2000 at the time of the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. These Lebanese in Israel are currently living between the fear of war and the hope of one day returning home.

“We hope that the Israelis come in and eliminate Hezbollah. It is not possible to make peace with them,” testifies Hélène, this Christian woman in her fifties who left Lebanon almost 30 years ago with her husband, a Druze officer in the army of the Jewish state. “We were suspected of collaborating with Israel”she says about this time, shortly before 2000, the year of the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, a region occupied for 18 years.

Today, Hélène speaks mainly in Hebrew. “Christians have always wanted peace with Israel”, she says. Hélène cried the day of the massacre of October 7, first for her adopted country, but above all because the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists brought back memories that had been well buried until then.

“What happened on October 7 happened in my village in Lebanon. Palestinians came in and they massacred, raped girls and killed children. They beheaded my father. So on October 7, I collapsed .”

Hélène, a Lebanese living in Israel

at franceinfo

“I suffered for the victims. I was 9 years old at the time and I experienced the same thing. They installed them in the church and placed explosives all around. They just wanted to burn everything down. because we are Christians October 7 took me back to my childhood and reminded me of the horror I experienced in my village.she confides.

Every year, Hélène and other Lebanese from Israel meet in Metoula, near the border, to mourn their dead. But since October 7 this has become impossible, due to the incessant threat of Hezbollah’s drones and anti-tank missiles.