Netanyahu Calls On Lebanese to Rise Up Against Hezbollah

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the people of Lebanon on October 8. He called on them to “take back” their country from Hezbollah — now severely weakened by IDF attacks and rudderless since the deaths of Hassan Nasrallah, and his successor, and the successor of his successor — not by taking up arms, but by mass demonstrations against the terror group that has held the country in thrall for so long. But some Lebanese, missing his point entirely, claim that Netanyahu was calling for a “civil war” in Lebanon.

This is a message to the people of Lebanon: pic.twitter.com/btMQR0Xwtn

— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) October 8, 2024

More on his message, and on the skewed interpretation of it, can be found here: “No, Netanyahu was not calling for a civil war in Lebanon. Quite the opposite.” Elder of Ziyon, October 10, 2024:

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a message directly to the people of Lebanon. Part of it said:

Now you, the Lebanese people, you stand at a significant crossroads. It is your choice.

You can now take back your country. You can return it to a path of peace and prosperity.

If you don’t, Hezbollah will continue to try to fight Israel from densely populated areas at your expense.

It doesn’t care if Lebanon is dragged into a wider war. Christians, Druze, Muslims—Sunnis and Shiites—all of you are suffering because of Hezbollah’s futile war against Israel.

Today I ask every mother and every father in Lebanon a simple question: Is it worth it? Because, it doesn’t have to be that way. I know you want a better future for your children.

So I am speaking to all of you today.

There is a better way. A better way for your children, for your cities, for your villages, for your country.

You deserve to restore Lebanon to its days of tranquility; you deserve a Lebanon that is different. One Country – One Flag – One People.

Don’t let these terrorists destroy your future any more than they’ve already done. Stand up and take your country back. You have an opportunity that hasn’t existed in decades. An opportunity to take care of the future of your children and grandchildren.

You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Each of you can take a step for your future.

Even a small step.

You can make a difference.

I say to you, the people of Lebanon:

Free your country from Hezbollah so that this war can end.

Free your country from Hezbollah so that your country can prosper again, so that future generations of Lebanese and Israeli children will know neither war nor bloodshed, but will finally live together in peace.

Many Lebanese interpreted this as a call for a civil war in Lebanon!

 “Netanyahu is calling on the Lebanese to kill each other, in a message clearly addressed to Hezbollah’s opponents,” said Ziad Majed, a political specialist at the American University of Paris. Indeed, he seems intent on inciting the anti-Hezbollah camp to take advantage of the latter’s degraded capabilities, following the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah and the destruction of a large part of its military infrastructure, to finish it off domestically. Otherwise, Israel will do it, even if at the cost of destroying the whole country and killing many civilians.

I’m seeing the same interpretation all over social media.

It is absurd.

Netanyahu is saying what I have been saying for months: it is time for the Lebanese people to take a public stand against Hezbollah, in the form of protests, demanding that Lebanon not be ruled by an Iranian proxy.

Hezbollah claims to be defending Lebanon. As long as the Lebanese people remain silent, they can continue to use that lie for their own anti-Israel purposes. But if the Lebanese people tell the world that they would be better off without Hezbollah’s pretense of defense, then Hezbollah has no leg to stand on….

Not with arms, but with mass street protests calling for Hezbollah to stop using the people of Lebanon as human shields, could have a powerful effect, demoralizing still further Hezbollah operatives who are now being relentlessly attacked by the IDF. Such demonstrations would also show the world that most of the Lebanese do not support Hezbollah, and wish to be free of it. That is, they support the IDF’s effort to reduce Hezbollah’s power.

Netanyahu was not asking the Lebanese opposed to Hezbollah to take up arms. Accusations that he was calling for “civil war” are nonsense — one more way to blacken Israel’s image. He was making an appeal for peaceful protests by Lebanese against Hezbollah’s domination of the country, in the hope that those protests could become so widespread that they will show the world that the true oppressor of the Lebanese is Hezbollah, and in weakening Hezbollah the IDF is not only lessening the threat of the group’s rocket attacks on Israel, but helping to free the Lebanese themselves from Hezbollah’s malign grip.