Israel-Lebanon Deal Revives Focus on Lost Jewish Community
7 sourcesUpdated Oct 18, 20261 min read
Israel last month released five Lebanese civilians it had detained in southern Lebanon after Lebanon assisted efforts to find remains of Lebanese Jewish community leaders abducted and killed in the 1980s civil war. The step, linked to talks that followed the Israel-Hezbollah war, has renewed attention on a community journalist Nada Abdelsamad says once numbered 18,000 to 20,000. Rabbi Elie Abadie, 65, born in Beirut to Syrian-born parents, left at age 10 as anti-Jewish sentiment rose after the 1967 war. He says the 1969 Cairo Agreement left Jews feeling threatened and that marches chanted death to Israel and the Jews. He estimates about 20 Jews remain, many not publicly identifying. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports at least seven Jews among 17,000 still missing, among them community president Isac Sasson, clinic doctor Elie Hallak, and former secretary general Salim Jamous; a group believed linked to Hezbollah was blamed for the kidnappings. CONTESTED: Bassem El Hout, attorney for Lebanon's Jewish community, says the missing are Lebanese citizens and any move of remains abroad would follow a legal process. Doron Spielman, speaking for the Israeli prime minister's office, says Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people has a profound and enduring responsibility to Jews throughout the world. Lebanese officials have announced no breakthrough on the remains, and it is unclear what would be done if they are found. Abadie has not returned for security reasons but hopes one day to reopen Beirut's central synagogue.
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Left· 3 sources
“Lebanon’s Jews recall a lost era of the community as new talks with Israel stir hope”Center· 0 sources
No center coverage yet — a bubble gap.
Trading five Lebanese civilians for information on the missing shows both countries can prioritize basic humanity over grudges.
This prisoner swap could finally give closure to the families of those Jewish leaders abducted in the eighties.
It's heartbreaking that Lebanon's Jewish community has shrunk from twenty thousand to just twenty after decades of conflict.
