For people as diverse and war-weary as those in Lebanon, words like dignity and peace have lately taken on real substance. An online campaign has picked up in recent days to prevent a full-scale conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in southern Lebanon. In particular, digital activists are sharing the hashtag #LebanonDoesn’tWantWar – especially a war like that in Gaza.
The campaign went into high gear last week after Hezbollah threatened Cyprus if the island nation assists Israel’s military. Yet the deeper message for Hezbollah is a reminder that the terrorist group, as it’s been designated by the United States, still remains a political party. In fact, it’s the largest party in parliament, in a country hungry to restore its stagnant democracy as well as basic services. Here’s a sampling of the online salvos that might restrain Hezbollah from escalating its attack against Israel:
“Do you value the blood of the Lebanese in your decisions regarding the war?” wrote Nancy Nessrine Lakiss, a Lebanese journalist. “Justice must begin with our country first!”
One online video shows a woman displaced from her home saying, “Do you want to liberate Jerusalem? You want to destroy Lebanon, displace its people, and kill them. … [Just] let these people raise their children in a country in peace and security!”
The head of the An-Nahar newspaper, Nayla Tueni, warned Hezbollah not to allow Lebanon to continue being an arena for other countries to settle their scores: “All of them do not value the right of #peoples to their land, their country, their freedom, and their dignity.”
Hezbollah “does care about Lebanese public opinion, and that’s also the reason it hasn’t escalated to an all-out war,” Dan Naor, an expert on Lebanon at Israel’s Ariel University, told Israel Hayom. “It needs to maneuver between Iranian needs and Lebanese needs, and the Shiite community [in southern Lebanon] is paying the price.”
In recent weeks, Israel and Hezbollah have negotiated indirectly through countries like France and the United States to avoid a larger war. Yet the real peacemakers may be the Lebanese. Their online activism is a reminder that even despots seek legitimacy among the people. In Lebanon, legitimacy requires respecting people’s demand for a life of peace and dignity.