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‘We have to be here fighting’: Deborah Lipstadt opens up on her Poland-Germany trip with Douglas Emhoff
BERLIN (JTA) — Second gentleman Douglas Emhoff made headlines late last month during a trip to Europe, where he met with other foreign leaders working to combat antisemitism and returned to his ancestors’ town in Poland.
But the trip was originally Deborah Lipstadt’s mission.
The historian, an authority on Holocaust issues and now the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, had planned to go to Krakow and Berlin on behalf of the Biden-Harris administration. The trip included a visit to the memorial and museum at Auschwitz-Birkenau on the 78th anniversary of the death camp’s liberation by Soviet troops and, in Berlin, a meeting with special envoys and coordinators who, like Lipstadt, are charged with the task of countering hatred against Jews.
The itinerary fit perfectly with Emhoff’s own anti-antisemitism campaign, so he asked Lipstadt late last year if he could come along.
As she reflected in an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency after returning home, Emhoff was not the only one to get emotional on the trip.
This interview has been lightly condensed and edited for clarity.
JTA: You met with special envoys on antisemitism from other countries, as you and Emhoff continue to work on a national plan to fight antisemitism at home. Did any concrete policy suggestions come out of those meetings?
DL: The meeting with the special envoys on antisemitism now is the third meeting we have had together.
But I think it was very important to send the message that we are all government appointees, and we speak government to government. So we have already gotten into that rhythm, and it was a very useful meeting. It was also a useful meeting because there were people there from the White House, from my staff, who are involved in this interagency process, and they got to hear from the people who are composing, writing, who have written national plans. And I think that was very helpful. So it was one of the most productive meetings.
You also attended an interfaith meeting with Jewish, Catholic, Protestant and Muslim participants, hosted by the Central Council of Jews in Germany in Berlin. What came out of that?
That actually went very well. The groups tended to talk about what they do together. …One of the things I urged the group, and it may have been bringing coals to Newcastle, but it is a sort of a new effort on their part… is that [talking about things that affect multiple faiths] is a good way of building relations. For instance, [my office had] a meeting in October, convened by the EU but with very strong support from the State Department, from my office, on ritual slaughter. Which of course affects both Jews and Muslims, kashrut and halal. So here is a tachles [goal], a brass tacks area which we could work on together. And that was an excellent meeting, a whole day at the EU.
What do you see as the main challenges in fighting antisemitism and hate today?
You know, some people say this is just like the 1930s. It is not. Back then, you had government-sponsored antisemitism. Whether it was Germany, whether it was other countries, even in the United States. We didn’t have government sponsored antisemitism, but there was a failure of the [U.S.] government [to respond].
On Monday morning, we were sitting in Topography of Terror [Berlin’s museum and archive on the history of the Gestapo], and it was government officials discussing “how do we fight antisemitism?” And everybody around that table is paid by the government. They are government officials, officially appointed. That’s a big difference. That is a humongous difference. That is a sea change.
And then we had the second gentleman there who could easily have said, “We came into office, we put a mezuzah up at our residence. We had a Chanukah party, a Rosh Hashanah party, we had a seder…” [Instead, it] is really clear that he has taken to this issue. He has really said it a number of times… and his wife [Vice President Kamala Harris] says, “He didn’t find this issue. This issue found him.”
RELATED: We’re visiting Auschwitz because the fight against antisemitism didn’t end with liberation
On the first day I met him, which was before I was sworn into office, he said he wanted to meet me and I spent some time with him. He said, “I want to work with you.” And then in October, we had a sukkah event at Blair House [the state guest house], where the State Department brought a sukkah, and we invited ambassadors and deputy chiefs of mission from Middle Eastern and Muslim-majority countries. So sitting around the table were the Israeli ambassador, the Turkish ambassador, the Pakistan ambassador, the deputy chief of mission from Qatar, the deputy chief of mission from Saudi Arabia… And [the Second Gentleman] and I were standing in the kitchen waiting to be escorted into the room, when people took their seats. And he said to me, “Deborah, where are you traveling, where are you going?” I said “Well, in January I am going to Auschwitz-Birkenau for the 27th.” And he said “I’m in.” And that’s how it happened.
You have been to Auschwitz many times…
Dozens of times, I can’t keep count. You know I have been many times, but I work very hard so that it never becomes de rigeur. That it becomes “min haminyan” as you would say in Hebrew. … All you have to do is remind yourself of what happened there. And so it doesn’t matter if it’s your first time or your 15th time. If you are cognizant of what happened there, it sits with you.
…When I go to Auschwitz, especially when it was around my trial [after being sued by British writer David Irving for calling him a Holocaust denier], I had to look at things in a very forensic way, you know: How do we prove this, how do we show that. And that of course sits with me still. But I was well aware that this was [Emhoff’s] first time and what an emotional impact this was having on him. … The thing that always strikes me about Auschwitz, the thing that you hear resounding in your ears in a thunderous way, is the silence. The absence. The little kid that would have worn the shoes that you saw in the display. The people who wore the eyeglasses. The men who shaved with that shaving stuff.
So that is always there. And it hits me at moments and then I become the historian. Analyzing. But it was very powerful, and what was also powerful was, in a way, though this seems counterintuitive, going to Poland first, which was just laden with emotion, especially for him, he went to the town where his family comes from, and got a lot of information. And then going to Germany. One would have thought, go to Germany first and then go to Poland, but in a way the emotional part became the backdrop for the business meetings in Germany.
[Emhoff] very kindly at one point described me as his mentor. Well, if I am his mentor, he is an A1 student. He is really intent on showing not just his passion about the issue but in learning about the issue. He is an accomplished lawyer, an experienced lawyer, and he knows that feeling is not enough, you’ve got to have information, and he gathered that every place he went.
Do you really have the feeling that antisemitism is on the rise or is it just more acceptable to express it?
I think both. I am not out there crunching the numbers statistically, but certainly it is more acceptable. Certainly, it is increasingly normalized. Whether it’s among comedians, whether it is articles in the newspaper, whether it is at demonstrations, it is increasingly normal. And even becomes fodder for entertainers. So whether those same people felt the same before and didn’t say anything or they now suddenly feel that, I don’t know. But many people who might otherwise have been more reticent about expressing certain things previously seem to feel freer to say antisemitic things now.
If antisemitism keeps coming back, what gives you hope?
First of all, what gives me hope, what gives me strength, is I know what I am fighting for, I am not just fighting against. I have a very strong sense of my Jewish identity, I have a very strong sense of who I am, Jewishly. I am lucky, I had a great education, etc.
Earlier this year, I guess it was September, the president did a phone call, it was his practice during the vice presidency, before Rosh Hashanah, or between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, to do a phone call with — this time I think it was 1,200 rabbis. And I came along after he spoke with them to answer questions. And one of the questions was what gives me joy and what gives me strength. And what I said to the rabbis was that I never want to become a “because of antisemitism Jew.” Driving me out of the woodwork because everyone dislikes me, hates me, or wants to harm me. Not everyone — but there are people who want to harm me.
On Monday when I was at all those meetings [in Berlin], it was Jan. 30, 90 years after Hitler came to power, right there where we were standing. Not far from there people were marching in the streets with tiki torches! Championing among other things “death to the Jews.”
And here we were, back: Yes, the good news is here we are back, openly talking about fighting [antisemitism], here we are back, government officials tasked with fighting it, someone at the ambassadorial level from my country, the second gentleman, anxious to help in this effort, but nonetheless we were back there fighting. So on one hand, you can say, “Great, we have the special envoy, great we have the second gentleman who was so open to taking this on. This is unbelievable.” But we are here fighting. We have to be here fighting.
What was your most memorable experience from the recent trip?
On Saturday night [in Poland], one of the members of the White House staff that was with us after Shabbos had hired a car to go to the little village, shtetl, whatever, that her family came from. She wanted to go to the cemetery to see if she could find any names. Now the chances of her finding the names, in the daylight, when it is 70 degrees out and comfortable [would be hard enough]. Here it was below freezing, snow was falling, the ground was icy, and it was pitch black. We were with a genealogist, but the cemetery was locked. So we thought we would have to climb the fences. I thought, “Oh my God, we are going to have an international incident!” But our driver got the key to the cemetery from the people across the street, and I asked, “How did you know?” And he said, “The people across the street always have the key.”
So we didn’t have to break in. She wanted to say a prayer, and she was totally capable of saying the prayer herself but obviously she was deeply moved, and she asked me to recite the “El Maleh Rachamim” [prayer for the soul of a person who has died] for her. And when I stopped, she gave all the names of the people, many of whom were buried there but we couldn’t find the exact places. And then I said “shenikberu” [“who is buried here”], and the person holding the flashlight for me, I couldn’t see, it was tiny print, and he’s Israeli, he said, “po.” Here, here, here! I had never said an “El Maleh Rachamim” for people who were caught up in this tragedy, here. In situ. It was very powerful.
And then on the 30th [in Berlin] after our special envoy meeting, we all walked over to the [city’s] Holocaust memorial. And Felix [Klein, Germany’s special commissioner on antisemitism and Jewish life] had brought stones. And we were standing there, and to borrow a phrase from Herman Wouk’s “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,” there was this pregnant pause. And I said, “Would you like me to recite a prayer?” And I recited the prayer, another “El Maleh Rachamim,” and I became totally verklempt [overcome with emotion]. Because I was just a 12-minute walk, if that long, from where it was planned and carried out, and that was very powerful as well.
So the trip was pregnant with meaning, but I think more than just meaning, hopefully also impact.
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The post ‘We have to be here fighting’: Deborah Lipstadt opens up on her Poland-Germany trip with Douglas Emhoff appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Rabbinical texts reveal surprising links between Yiddish and Ladino
דער דײַטשישער וויסנשאַפֿטלעכער פֿאַרלאַג De Gruyter האָט לעצטנס אַרויסגעגעבן אַ באַנד פֿאָרשונגען וועגן רבנישע כּתבֿים אויף ייִדיש און לאַדינאָ, רעדאַקטירט דורך קאַטיאַ שמיד (מאַדריד), דוד בוניס (ירושלים) און חוה טורניאַנסקי (ירושלים). די עלעקטראָנישע ווערסיע פֿונעם בוך איז צוטריטלעך צו אַלעמען, פֿרײַ פֿון אָפּצאָל.
אויף ייִדיש זענען פֿאַראַן צוויי ווערטער, וואָס באַצייכענען דעם אונטערשייד צווישן הייליקע ספֿרים און וועלטלעכע ביכער. דער חילוק איז אָבער נישט אַלעמאָל קלאָר. אַ פֿילאָסאָפֿיש, מעדיציניש צי פֿילאָלאָגיש ווערק אויף לשון־קודש אָדער לשון־תּרגום איז גיכער אַ ספֿר, און אַ הלכה־חיבור אויף ייִדיש קאָן מען אָנרופֿן אַ „בוך‟, ווײַל ייִדיש ווערט, בדרך־כּלל, אַסאָציִיִרט מיט דער וועלטלעכער זײַט פֿון דער ייִדישער קולטור, און די סעמיטישע שפּראַכן – לשון־קודש און אַראַמיש – מיט פֿרומקייט.
אויף לאַדינאָ אָדער דזשודעזמאָ איז אַזאַ אונטערשייד נישטאָ, נאָר די ייִדישע אינערלעכע צוויי־שפּראַכיקייט איז בנימצא; די נאַטירלעכע ספֿרים־שפּראַך איז לשון־קודש. אַמאָל האָבן די ספֿרדים אין דער מיטל־עלטערלעכער מוסולמענישער שפּאַניע אָבער געשריבן גאָר ערנסטע רבנישע ספֿרים דווקא אויף אַראַביש.
אינעם נײַעם בוך איז אַרײַן אַבריאל בר־לבֿבֿס אַרטיקל וועגן דער אַשכּנזישער טאָפּל־שפּראַכיקער קולטור. דער פֿאָרשער ווײַזט, אַז די אַלטע ספֿרים אויף אַראַביש האָבן משפּיע געווען אויף הרבֿ משה פֿראַנקפֿורט; ווי באַלד די הייליקסטע ייִדישע טעקסטן, אַרײַנגערעכנט די גרמא און דעם זוהר, זענען אָנגעשריבן אויף אַן אומגאַנג־שפּראַך, אַראַמיש, קאָן מען ממילא שרײַבן ערנסטע ספֿרים אויף ייִדיש. אַזוי האָט אויך געטאָן זײַן טאַטע, הרבֿ שמעון פֿראַנקפֿורט.
אין אַן אַנדער אַרטיקל וועגן דער אַשכּנזישער און ספֿרדישער שפּראַך־פֿילאָסאָפֿיע פֿונעם 19טן יאָרהונדערט ווײַזט מיכאל זילבער, אַז הרבֿ עקיבֿא־יוסף שלעזינגער (1837 – 1922) האָט אויסגענוצט דעם זעלבן אַרגומענט לטובֿת ייִדיש ווי אַ נאַציאָנאַלע ייִדישע שפּראַך אין זײַן ספֿר „לבֿ העבֿרי‟ – לאַנג פֿאַר דער טשערנאָוויצער קאָנפֿערענץ.
אין דער עסטרײַך־אונגערישער אימפּעריע האָבן געוווינט סײַ אַשכּנזים, טיילווײַז דײַטשיש־ און אונגעריש־רעדנדיקע, סײַ לאַדינאָ־שפּראַכיקע ספֿרדים. אַ וויכטיקער צענטער פֿון זייער צונויפֿטרעפֿונג איז געווען ווין. די טראַדיציאָנאַליסטן אין ביידע עדות האָבן געהאַלטן, אַז ייִדן מוזן אָפּהיטן זייער גערעדט לשון; דאָס האָט אויך געשטימט מיטן גײַסט פֿונעם אונגערישן נאַציאָנאַליזם. אין זײַן ספֿר „מעשׂה אָבֿות‟ ברענגט הרבֿ שלעזינגער בײַשפּילן פֿון מיזרחדיקע ייִדן, וועלכע האָבן באַטראַכט זייער ייִדיש־שפּאַניש (לאַדינאָ) און ייִדיש־אַראַביש ווי טראַדיציאָנעלע הייליקע מאַמע־לשונות.
צו דער גאָר אינטערעסאַנטער אינפֿאָרמאַציע קען איך צוגעבן דעם בײַשפּיל פֿונעם מונקאַטשער רבין חיים־אלעזר שפּירא (1868 – 1937). אין זײַן רוף צו רעדן דווקא אויף ייִדיש האָט ער אויך באַטאָנט, אַז די ווינער ספֿרדים דאַרפֿן ווײַטער רעדן אויף זייער אייגן לשון. כ׳האָב געשריבן וועגן דעם אינעם פֿאָרווערטס.
משה טאַובע באַהאַנדלט די אינטערעסאַנטע קשיא: צי קען מען אָננעמען די אַלט־ייִדישע גבֿיות־עדותן אויף ייִדיש ווי אויטענטישע מוסטערן פֿון דער גערעדטער שפּראַך? למשל, הרבֿ בנימין פֿון סלאָניק, פּוילן, האָט אינעם יאָר 1605 ציטירט אָט אַזאַ גבֿית־עדות: „איך אונ׳ איין וועלשער יהודי זיין גיזעסין צו יאס אין דער וואלח״יי אונ איז גיוועזין בייא אונז איין יהודי פון לעלוב ושמו היה אייזיק גלעזער, ער האט גערביט חמאה וגבינה‟. אויפֿן הײַנטיקן ייִדיש מיינט עס: „איך און איינער אַ רומענישער ייִד האָבן געוווינט אין יאַס, רומעניע, און בײַ אונדז איז געווען אַ ייִד פֿון לעלעוו, וועלכער האָט געהייסט אײַזיק גלעזער; זײַן מלאָכה איז געווען פֿוטער און קעז.‟ צי האָט יענער ייִד טאַקע גערעדט ממש אַזוי, מיט גאַנצע לשון־קודשדיקע אויסדרוקן, אָדער האָט דער בית־דין זיי אַרײַנגעשריבן? זיכער האָט יענער עדות געזאָגט „אַ ייִד‟, נישט „איין יהודי‟.
אינעם בוך דערציילט קלאַודיאַ ראָזענצווײַג אַן אַנדער מעשׂה וועגן דעם זעלבן פּוילישן רבֿ, בנימין סלאָניק. זײַן פּאָפּולער ייִדיש הלכה־ספֿר פֿאַר פֿרויען, „סדר מצות לנשים‟, איז אַרויס אינעם יאָר 1577 אין קראָקע און דערנאָך אין עטלעכע אַנדערע שטעט. דער איטאַליענישער רבֿ יעקבֿ היילפּרון האָט עס איבערגעזעצט אויף ייִדיש־איטאַליעניש און אַרויסגעגעבן אין 1616 אין ווענעציע. היילפּרון איז געווען אַ מחבר פֿון ייִדישע ספֿרים, אַרײַנגערעכנט אַ געגראַמטע איבערזעצונג פֿון שלמה אבן גבֿירולס מיסטישער פּאָעמע „כתר מלכות‟. אבן גבֿירולס היימישע שמועס־שפּראַך איז געווען אַראַביש – נאָך אַ בײַשפּיל פֿון אַשכּנזיש־ספֿרדישע פֿאַרבינדונגען. אַגבֿ, אינעם ייִדישן דיאַלעקט פֿון איטאַליעניש איז אויך פֿאַראַן דאָס וואָרט „ספֿר‟.
בנימין הוניאַדיס פֿאָרשונג איז אויך געווידמעט דעם פֿריִער דערמאָנטן הרבֿ עקיבֿא שלעזינדער. ס׳רובֿ אַנדערע אַרטיקלען זענען געווידמעט דער רבנישער ליטעראַטור אויף לאַדינאָ. ייִדיש ווערט דאָרט עטלעכע מאָל דערמאָנט, אָבער נישט צו אָפֿט. צום בײַשפּיל, ד״ר אַנאַבעלאַ עספּעראַנצאַ פֿאַרגלײַכט די תּחינות און חסידישע ניגונים מיט די ספֿרדישע „קאָפּלאַס‟ אָדער „קאָמפּלאַס‟ – פֿרומע לאַדינאָ־לידער.
ווי עס זעט אויס, איז דאָס פֿיל־קולטורעלע עסטרײַך־אונגערן געווען די וויכטיקסטע קאָנטאַקט־זאָנע צווישן די אַשכּנזים און ספֿרדים. אויף דעם שפּראַכלעכן באַוווּסטזײַן פֿון ביידע ייִדישע גרופּעס האָבן משפּיע געווען די נאַציאָנאַלע באַוועגונגען פֿון אַנדערע באַלקאַנישע און מיזרח־אייראָפּעיִשע פֿעלקער. דאָס נײַע בוך איז אַ וויכטיקער, אינפֿאָרמאַטיווער שטאַפּל אין פֿאַרגלײַך־פֿאָרשונגען פֿון ביידע לשונות, ווי אויך אין דער אַלגעמיינער ייִדישער געשיכטע פֿון „היימישע‟ עסטרײַך־אונגערישע מקומות און צענטראַל־אייראָפּע בכלל.
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Why Poland’s president canceled his menorah lighting — and how the West helped make that happen
As we grapple with the horrific massacre of Jews celebrating Hanukkah in Bondi Beach, Australia, another assault on a Jewish holiday tradition is occurring halfway across the world. It’s not violent, thankfully, but it sure is ominous.
This Hanukkah, the night is darker over Warsaw.
For the past decade, each December, a menorah burned in Poland’s presidential palace. It was a gesture of tolerance and interfaith friendship as well as a token of recognition for the five million Jews killed in Poland during the Holocaust.
But this Hanukkah, the candles remained unlit as Karol Nawrocki, the country’s new president, fulfilled a key campaign promise: end the menorah lighting. “I take my attachment to Christian values seriously, so I celebrate holidays that are close to me as a person,” he said.
“I take my attachment to Christian values seriously, so I celebrate holidays that are close to me as a person,” Nawrocki said, when explaining why he wouldn’t continue the tradition, a move seen as pandering to the country’s far right.
It’s never a good sign when a European leader rides to power by turning his back on Judaism. Unfortunately, Nawrocki’s decision is only the latest in a series of disturbing events. Last month, his political ally delivered a speech at the gates of Auschwitz, proclaiming “Poland is for Poles, not Jews.” Meanwhile, this July, plaques blaming murdered Jews for their fate were erected at the site of an infamous 1941 massacre.
It’s an astonishing turnaround for a country that only a few years ago was extolled as a paragon of Holocaust remembrance, but it didn’t come from nowhere. Indeed, it’s what happens when the West ignores warning signs of antisemitism in an ally.
Nawrocki became president this summer after beating a pro-EU opponent in a tight election. His candidacy alone raised alarm bells. A historian by trade, Nawrocki had supported legislation whitewashing the fact that some Poles killed Jews in the Holocaust; he also denounced respected scholars who brought up Poland’s dark past as purveyors of “disgusting attacks” on the country’s reputation.
Then came Nawrocki’s decision to ally himself with Grzergorz Braun, an openly antisemitic member of the European Parliament who’d accused Jews of controlling Poland and conducting ritual sacrifices of Christians. In 2023, Braun physically extinguished a menorah in the Polish parliament, proclaiming the sacred Jewish ceremony a “Satanic cult.”
In order to triumph in the extraordinarily close presidential election (the final vote was decided by less than two percentage points) Nawrocki courted Braun, turning the antisemitic firebrand into a kingmaker. In order to prove his bona fides to Braun’s supporters, Nawrocki said he would end the annual presidential menorah lightings.
Last month, several prominent figures including Poland’s justice minister decried Braun’s diatribe at Auschwitz. Nawrocki, however, has remained notably silent.
Western silence enabled this
How could such disquieting developments occur, especially in an EU and NATO member? Part of the reason has to do with a crucial mistake made by Israel and international Jewish groups.
In January 2018, Poland’s parliament passed a law making it a crime to accuse Poles of complicity in the Holocaust. This salvo against Holocaust remembrance triggered condemnations from the US State Department, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Jewish organizations.
A few months later, Warsaw softened the law by making it a civil offense, reducing the penalty from imprisonment to a fine.
Netanyahu, eager to restore relations with Poland, touted the downgraded law as a victory; several Jewish groups joined him.
But the legislation itself, not the penalty, was the problem. Whether criminal or civil, Warsaw was still institutionalizing Holocaust revisionism, arming itself with a mechanism to persecute those who challenged its narrative.
The West essentially acquiesced to government-sponsored Holocaust distortion, as long as it didn’t carry prison time. Yehuda Bauer of Israel’s central Holocaust museum succinctly described this capitulation as a “betrayal.”
Is it any wonder Nawrocki felt emboldened to get in bed with an overt Holocaust denier, pledged to end menorah lightings, and had chosen to say nothing in response to Braun’s chilling anti-Jewish tirade two weeks ago? If we in the West stay silent, why shouldn’t he?
A menorah is merely a symbol, of course, but given the explosion of antisemitism across Europe, even a symbolic light would be welcome.
“To discontinue the tradition of lighting the Hanukkah candles by the President would meant to give in to the demands of antisemites and more broadly, to further undermine the respect for minorities in Polish society,” Rafal Pankowski, Warsaw-based political scientist and head of the “Never Again” anti-hate organization told me.
There are still a few nights left in Hanukkah – perhaps there’s still time for Western leaders to ask Nawrocki to dispel the darkness. We could sure use it.
The post Why Poland’s president canceled his menorah lighting — and how the West helped make that happen appeared first on The Forward.
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Saudi, French, US Officials Push Hezbollah Disarmament Plan
Lebanese army members stand on a military vehicle during a Lebanese army media tour, to review the army’s operations in the southern Litani sector, in Alma Al-Shaab, near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, Nov. 28, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Aziz Taher
French, Saudi Arabian, and American officials held talks with the head of the Lebanese army on Thursday in Paris aimed at finalizing a roadmap to enable a mechanism for the disarmament of the Hezbollah terrorist group, diplomats said.
Israel and Lebanon agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire in 2024, ending more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that severely weakened the Iran-backed terrorists.
Since then, the sides have traded accusations over violations with Israel questioning the Lebanese army’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah. Israeli warplanes have increasingly targeted Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and even in the capital.
Speaking after the meeting, France’s foreign ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux said the talks had agreed to document seriously with evidence the Lebanese army’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah as well as strengthening the existing ceasefire mechanism.
CEASEFIRE AT RISK
With growing fear the ceasefire could unravel, the Paris meeting aimed to create more robust conditions to identify, support, and verify the disarmament process and dissuade Israel from escalation, four European and Lebanese diplomats and officials told Reuters.
With legislative elections due in Lebanon in 2026, there are fears political paralysis and party politics will further fuel instability and make President Joseph Aoun less likely to press disarmament, the diplomats and officials said.
“The situation is extremely precarious, full of contradictions and it won’t take much to light the powder keg,” said one senior official speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Aoun doesn’t want to make the disarming process too public because he fears it will antagonize and provoke tensions with the Shi’ite community in the south of the country.”
With the Lebanese army lacking capacity to disarm Hezbollah, the idea would be to reinforce the existing ceasefire mechanism with French, US, and possibly other military experts along with UN peacekeeping forces, the diplomats and officials said.
The parties agreed to hold a conference in February to reinforce the Lebanese army, Confavreux said.
ISRAELI STRIKES
As officials convened for the talks, multiple Israeli strikes hit towns in southern Lebanon and areas of the Bekaa Valley on Thursday, Lebanon’s state news agency NNA reported.
The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah targets across several areas, including a military compound used for training, weapons storage, and artillery launches, saying the activity violated understandings between Israel and Lebanon and posed a threat to Israel. It also said it struck a Hezbollah militant in the area of Taybeh in southern Lebanon.
Commenting on the attacks, parliament speaker and Hezbollah-allied Amal Movement leader Nabih Berri said the strikes were an “Israeli message” to the Paris conference, NNA added.