The Failed State of Lebanon to Combat 'Normalization' with Israel

by Khaled Abu Toameh 

• "Normalization" with Israel is not what is plaguing Lebanon. The Lebanese who are dying for lack of medication could not care less about "normalization" with Israel.
• "Unfortunately, they sentenced me to 10 years in prison, but they sentenced the Lebanese people to life in poverty and humiliation. The military court in Lebanon did not give me any opportunity to defend myself. The court did not inform my lawyer in Beirut even of the trial date. It did not inform me personally of anything. The least that should have been done was to inform me of the date of the trial so I could defend myself." — Dr. Jamal Rifi, sentenced to 10 years in prison for treating Israeli Arabs at the request of the Palestinian Authority, arabsaustralia.com, August 24, 2021
• The case of Dr. Rifi is yet another example of the blind hatred in Lebanon and other Arab countries towards Israel. These countries are so blinded by their hate for Israel (and Jews) that they are even prepared to punish a physician who helped Palestinians living in Jerusalem. It can be fairly said of these Arabs that they are willing to fight Israel to the last Palestinian.
• There is a further ironic twist to this fiasco. While most Arab countries are turning a blind eye to the deepening crisis in Lebanon, there is one country that appears ready to help the Lebanese people: Israel.
• One day after the court verdicts were issued against Dr. Rifi and the other two Lebanese, Moshe Arbel, a member of the Israeli parliament (Knesset) called on Minister of Health Nitzan Horowitz to provide the Lebanese health system with emergency humanitarian assistance in light of the public health crisis as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the political and economic crisis in Lebanon.
• It is no wonder that Lebanon -- which is dominated by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist militia -- has become a failed state and is on the brink of collapse. A country that prioritizes fighting "normalization" with Israel over rescuing its own people from disaster will never be able to recover from its chronic illness of bigotry and hate.

Dr. Jamal Ahmed Rifi, a Lebanese physician residing in Australia, last week was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison by a military court in Lebanon for the crime of "normalization with Israel," because he volunteered to work with a project to provide medical supplies to Arab hospitals in Jerusalem and to provide training for Palestinian medical staff in hospitals in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Pictured: The Lebanon's Permanent Military Court in Beirut, on April 8, 2016. (Photo by Anwar Amro/AFP via Getty Images)

The financial and economic crisis in Lebanon is dragging the country towards mayhem at a quickening pace, according to various reports. Lebanon is running out of critical medicines and is witnessing fuel shortages. The economic collapse has stripped the national currency of most of its value and left four out of five Lebanese citizens below the poverty line.

The World Bank has described the crisis as among the worst in over a century.

The crisis, however, has not stopped the Lebanese authorities from again displaying their hostility towards Israel. Instead of devoting its energies to solving the economic crisis and end the suffering of its people -- not even to distract their people from problems they are clueless how to fix -- the failed Lebanese government is busy combating "normalization" with Israel.

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