The 18th Sect

I apologize for not updating this blog more last week. I found myself at a loss for truly interesting news to cover. That said, this article in NOW Lebanon is well worth your time. I didn't write it, sadly, but I can claim credit for prodding the author into action and editing the piece.

Mr. Ronnie Chatah tracks the history of Jews in Lebanon, from their journey here following the 1948 war, to their persecution after the 1967 war, to their near-extinction today:

"When Israel invaded Lebanon and reached Beirut in the summer of 1982, the Israeli government offered the remaining Lebanese Jews Israeli citizenship. According to a report issued by British daily The Times in August of that year, not one Lebanese Jew accepted the offer. 'I was offered Israeli citizenship,' Liza confirmed, 'when [Ariel] Sharon came to Beirut. I wasn’t the only one then to simply turn it down. I am not, and will never be, Israeli.' Indeed, Zionism was largely unattractive even to many of the 500,000 Arab Jews that fled to Israel. However, there was no other country willing to accept them as refugees.

Read the whole thing.