Lebanonupdated 1h ago2 min read
Israel Releases Five Civilians in Exchange for Lebanon Help Searching Bodies of Jewish Leaders
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Lebanon will participate in US-backed trilateral talks with Israel in Tampa on Oct 20. A Lebanese military delegation will press Beirut’s demands to end Israeli escalation.
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Negotiations Spotlight Jewish Community
Israel and Hezbollah’s latest war pushed Lebanon and Israel into direct negotiations that also brought renewed attention to Lebanon’s once-thriving Jewish community and its long-absent leaders. Rabbi Elie Abadie, who left Lebanon more than five decades ago and has not even visited since, said, "It is unfortunately a sad reality that, since Lebanon and the Jews go back over 3,000 years" and described the last 50 years as a decline in Jewish population and life in Lebanon.
Nada Abdelsamad said Lebanon once had between 18,000 and 20,000 Jews, many living in the central Beirut district of Wadi Abu Jmil, which was nicknamed the Valley of the Jews. The reporting tied the renewed spotlight to Israel’s agreement to release five civilians detained by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon in exchange for Lebanon’s help in searching for the bodies of Lebanese Jewish leaders abducted and killed in the 1980s during Lebanon’s civil war.
Missing Jews and Accountability
The reporting said at least seven Jews are among the 17,000 missing Lebanese people whose fate remains unknown decades after the 15-year war ended, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The Jewish news agency said the missing include Isac Sasson, then-president of Lebanon's Jewish community, doctor Elie Hallak, known for treating people from all religious sects at his Beirut clinic, and Salim Jamous, the Jewish community's former secretary general.
Bassem El Hout, an attorney representing Lebanon's Jewish community, said, "In the end these are Lebanese citizens, and there is a legal process if they want to move them outside the country." Doron Spielman, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, told The Associated Press, "Israel, as the nation-state of the Jewish people, has a profound and enduring responsibility to Jews throughout the world".
UNIFIL, Tampa Talks, and Vacuum
Lebanon said it would press for an end to Israeli military operations at US-mediated talks on Tuesday, with a Lebanese military delegation presenting Beirut’s demands at a trilateral meeting in Tampa, Florida, on October 20. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met visiting French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and reiterated Lebanon’s desire to extend the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which is due to expire at the end of the year.
Aoun said, "If this proves impossible, Lebanon welcomes any arrangement that ensures an international presence in the south, prevents a vacuum, and avoids placing the Lebanese army in direct contact with the Israeli army," in a statement. The reporting said the talks come as Israeli strikes continued in southern Lebanon and as a deadlock persisted over the terms of a deal intended to end hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, including disputes over Hezbollah disarmament and Israeli troop withdrawals.