Lebanese elites have a long history of courting Zionism

Lebanese elites have a long history of courting Zionism Submitted by Hicham Safieddine on Wed, 07/29/2026 - 18:02 Banker Antoun Sehnaoui's controversial dinner with Netanyahu this week is only the latest manifestation of an ongoing process Antoun Sehnaoui (with back to camera) hosts a dinner, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his family in attendance, on 27 July 2026 (Barak Ravid/X) On During his visit to Washington last week, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called for ending the state of hostility between Lebanon and Israel “forever” . He embraced counterinsurgency rather than liberation politics; by identifying sovereignty with disarming non-state actors, rather than freedom from settler-colonialism - and he echoed Zionist claims by situating the root cause of armed resistance in Hezbollah’s religious ideology, rather than Israeli occupation. The promotion of Zionist narratives, and the push for normalisation with the Israeli state, has become widespread in Lebanese media and public discourse.