Despite war toll, some Lebanese Christians support Israel's goals (FReeper quoted in Jerusalem Post)

Jerusalem Post Online Edition ^ | Aug. 13, 2006 | Uriel Heilman

[DTogo]

As Israel pounded Hizbullah targets in southern Lebanon with bombs, artillery fire and advancing ground troops, some Lebanese at home and abroad were quietly applauding Israel's offensive.

Most Lebanese oppose Israel's widespread bombardment of the country, and even those in the past who called for Hizbullah's disarmament have, in the face of Israel's military assault, lined up behind the Shi'ite militia.

Yet a distinct minority of Lebanese are rooting for Israel to crush Hizbullah - silently if not explicitly.

"I'm praying for flattening southern Lebanon," one Beirut native, Micheline Touma, told JTA recently after fleeing Lebanon for the United States about two weeks after the fighting began.

Like many of those harshly critical of Hizbullah, Touma is a Maronite Christian.

Support for Hizbullah is weakest among Christians, many of whom battled Lebanon's Shi'ites in the country's civil war that lasted from 1975 to 1990. Concentrated in Beirut and around Mount Lebanon, the 1.5 million Christians in Lebanon make up 35 to 40 percent of the country's population.

"It was Hizbullah's mistake, and they deserve to pay for it," Touma said of Hizbullah's July 12 attack on an Israeli military patrol, which sparked the current war. "I wish the Israelis could destroy them all - get them out of the planet."

[DTogo]

"Hizbullah is only doing these things so they can trick Israel into hitting civilian areas" and thereby stop their attacks, writes a blogger named Maronite on Freerepublic.com. This "is exactly the same thing Hizbullah did in 1996 in Kana and their plan worked perfectly, as the Israeli incursion was halted."

Hope this isn't a re-post. I searched and couldn't find it.

[The_Reader_David]

Praying for the destruction of Hezbollah's military capacity is worthy prayer for Christians. But wishing to flatten southern Lebanon shows a distinct lack of brotherliness toward the Orthodox Christians (5% of Lebanon's population to the Maronites' 20-25%) who are concentrated in the south: the Bishop of Tyre and Sidon (a relative of our Metropolitan Philip) went missing during the fighting (and I've not heard whether he's alive or reappeared since), Qana is a Christian town, abused by Hezbollah as an anti-aircraft position, and Marjeyoun, whose inhabitants fled with Lebanese government forces, only to have their Israeli-approved convoy attacked by an Israeli UAV, is Christian, largely Orthodox, with some Maronites and Latins as well.

Most of the Lebanese families at St. George Cathedral, Wichita, and St. Elias, OKC emigrated from southern Lebanon and have relatives still there.

[agrace]

So ping him. :)

[Convert from ECUSA]

Ping!

[NonValueAdded]

Ping to your 15 minutes of fame.

[bornacatholic]

Hizbollah is taking power from a feckless Lebanon like the Nazi's took power from a feckless weimar republic. Nobody is cheeering but not facing facts will cause more innocents to die.

Fight or Flight. Every Christian in Lebanon ought be fleeing asap because they didn't fight when they had a chance. Hell is coming. David, I pray those you know are ok. Tell them to get out NOW

[DTogo]

D'oh!

[Alex Murphy]

As Israel pounded Hizbullah targets in southern Lebanon with bombs, artillery fire and advancing ground troops, some Lebanese at home and abroad were quietly applauding Israel's offensive.

Interesting - reminds me of stories I've heard about WWII, where citizens in the Axis countries applauded Allied bombing raids over their own neighborhoods (because it drove out the Nazis).

[GeronL]

I'm praying for flattening southern Lebanon," one Beirut native, Micheline Touma

You might want to stay away from Lebanon for a while since those guys take names.

[DTogo]

Indeed, who's going to run out in front of the cameras with an Israeli flag cheering the IDF? Your head would be off your shoulders in minutes, seconds perhaps.

[Holden Magroin]

How come newspapers never quote me?

[DTogo]

Because you're too much of a "hands on" guy.

[ME-262]

I'm not sure how things will all turn out, but...

I predict hizbullah will get a brief "honeymoon" where they claim victory over Israel and are lauded as heroes throughout the muslim world. But, when the US reconstruction dollars don't show up and the hizbullah gunmen don't rebuild those bridges and power plants, the Lebanese populace as a whole will be living with limited electricity and limited infrastructure for about six to nine months, and then they'll begin to turn on the bastards who got them into this mess. They'll have a lousy tourist season next year also if their infrastructure doesn't get fixed, and a very large part of their national economy is based on tourism. Except for some of the Shia muslims who won't mind living amongst the rubble of their homes for the sake of hizbullah having been able to kidnap a couple of Jewish soldiers in the name of Islam, the rest of the population will realize that Israel has packed up and left, leaving the situation the same as before, only now their economy is in the shitter and there to stay for a long while. The general populace will realize that they were much much much better off before hizbullah's "victory"!

Without fail every islamic victory is followed by a very dark and oppressive time in that region.

[F.J. Mitchell]

LOL! Because printing your on line name is a violation of the MSM morality code.

[NYer]

Freeper 'maronite' made a quick appearance at FR just prior to departing Lebanon, headed for Paris and eventually back to Canada.

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[Coleus]

Freeper Maronite

[Cacique]

btt