Lebanese Activist Eli Khoury: Most Of The People Causing Problems With Israel In Lebanon Just Hate The Jews; We Have Seen Similar Images To Gaza In Sudan And Syria – How Come There Hasn't Been A Similar Response?

Lebanese media expert and activist Eli Khoury said in a September 4, 2024 interview with Spot Shot on YouTube that most of the people causing the problems with Israel in Lebanon hate the Jews and Israelis. He said that the literature of both the Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party – SSNP and political Islam revolves around hatred of the Jews, not Israelis. Khoury said that although there have been similar images of destruction and body parts in Sudan and Syria as there are in Gaza, people in Lebanon do not respond with similar sympathy, because there are no Jews or Israelis involved. He added that he does sympathize with the Palestinians, especially those who do not belong to Hamas.

Eli Khoury: "In Lebanon, the blood of the martyrs, the blood of the people, is worthless. Forget what people say on TV. Look at the situation on the ground. They use you as sandbags and put you there to be martyred, for no reason whatsoever. I still have not seen a single result of all the destruction and martyrdom that we have caused in south Lebanon.

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"It is your right to hate the Jews and the Israelis... You hate the Jews and the Israelis. Let's be clear about it."

Interviewer: "No, the Israelis maybe, but the Jews..."

Khoury: "That's a lie. Most of the people who cause all these problems with Israel – their real problem is with the Jews. They [hate] the Jews as a principle. Of course, they say that there are ancient Jews and new Jews, but ultimately, this is racism. The proof is that in their founding literature, they do not talk about Israelis. The SSNP talks about Jews, not about Israelis. In the literature of political Islam, they talk about Jews more than about Israelis. But when it comes to politics, they play games."

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Interviewer: "Seriously, what is [Hizbullah's] goal?"

Khoury: "To control the country. You still haven't figured this out?"

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Interviewer: "Doesn't Israel have [territorial] aspirations in Lebanon..."

Khoury: "Brother, so far it has given no such indication. Israeli was present in Lebanon for years, and hasn't built a single settlement. Show me one."

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Interviewer: "Aren't you upset by the painful images you are seeing today... Look at the images of children, body parts, and destruction..."

Khoury: "Where?"

Interviewer: "In the Gaza Strip, but also in south Lebanon."

Khoury: "Sorry, but I couldn't care less about anything outside of Lebanon. Let me tell you my opinion, which is also the opinion of three quarters of the Lebanese. Aren't there problems in Sudan? Why aren't you sympathizing with them? Why haven't you shown sympathy when the same problems occurred in Syria? Just because these are Jews and Israelis..."

Interviewer: "But don't you sympathize with the children of Gaza?"

Khoury: "I sympathize with everybody, including the Palestinians, especially those who do not belong to Hamas. What more do you want?"