David Samel (Mondoweiss)
In Beirut, a recent event, under-reported in the United States, provides a dramatic contrast with the New York controversy over Park51, an Islamic cultural center planned for lower Manhattan. According to Ha’aretz, Lebanon’s largest Jewish synagogue has been saved from the wrecking ball and beautifully restored to its past glory.
The Magen Avraham synagogue had fallen into disrepair during the Lebanese Civil War of the 1970's and 1980's. Located in the city center, the synagogue was in danger of being demolished in favor of urban renewal. However, Beirut’s tiny Jewish population decided to save and renovate the structure, and received the approval not only of the Lebanese government but specifically of Hezbollah. The Islamic party, announcing its support, proclaimed: “We respect divine religions, including the Jewish religion."
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An interesting comment on this article:
ReplyDelete<span>Walid</span> <span>August 30, 2010 at 1:29 pm</span>
Great article, David, but the rejoicing of the restoration of the synagogue should happen when it will have its rabbi and that regular prayers in it for Beirut’s underground Jewish population and I’m sure most Lebanese feel that way. There are some very prominent Jewish families in Beirut but for now they are keeping their identity somewhat of a secret.
Although this has nothing to do with your mosque/synagogue subject, it’s still worth noting that after the 48 war started, Lebanon was the only Arab country that saw its Jewish population increase and continue to increase during the following 15 years. Lebanon’s Jews actually donated money for the war effort against Israel. Most of the Jews that left did so at the same time as other Lebanese left which was for better economic opportunities elsewhere but most of them refused to go to Zionist Israel. It was an Israeli shell that broke through the synagogue’s roof in 1982 to spook the few remaining Jews that were still refusing to leave Beirut with the IDF; a repeat of what Israel had done in Baghdad about 30 years earlier to accelerate the Jews’ departures from there.
The Lebanese’s problem is with the Zionists, as you wrote, and not with the Jews.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/08/what-lebanon-can-teach-the-u-s-about-religious-tolerance.html#comment-229238
This response from the author David Samel:
ReplyDelete<span>David Samel</span> <span>August 30, 2010 at 4:46 pm</span>
Alerted by Walid’s excellent comment, I did a little research and discovered that the synagogue was indeed bombed by the IAF in the 1982 war. Israel claimed that the PLO was hiding weapons therein. Sound familiar?
That is quite a significant fact that I missed. I had spoken only of “disrepair” because that is what was indicated in the Ha’aretz articles I used as sources. The IAF bombing was recounted in a wikipedia article on the History of Jews of Lebanon. I must say, Richard Witty, your comment in which you claim that there were “periodic mass murders of Beirut’s Jewish community,” citing as support an unsourced quote, is at least borderline deceptive. Not only doesn’t the quote satisfy your exaggerated conclusion of “periodic mass murders,” it was taken from the same wikipedia article I looked at. The part about the IAF bombing the synagogue appears right after your quote. You have the right to pick and choose what you want to comment on, but it doesn’t seem quite kosher to me to leave out the important fact that Israel bombed the synagogue. On top of it, you failed to identify your source so nobody else would find it.