ܐܰܢܛܽܘܢܺܝܳܘܣ ☨̶

Lebanese Christians gave women the right to vote in 1952, through Christian President Camille Chamoun. You’re 74 years late with the joke.

The Bhamdoun Synagogue, built in 1922, is one of the remaining traces of a Jewish community that was once deeply rooted in Lebanon. It was established by prominent Lebanese Jewish families (Safra, Matta, Sasson) to serve the religious needs of Jews who used to spend their summers in the Lebanese mountains since the late 19th century. By 1948, Lebanon was home to an estimated 20,000 Jews. Although the community was primarily concentrated in Beirut, Lebanese Jews were also present in places such as Bhamdoun, Aley, Saida and other parts of the country. Judaism remains one of Lebanon's officially recognized religious confessions. Lebanese Jews are Lebanese citizens with officially the same political rights as other citizens, including the right to vote and to run for public office. They can run for the minorities seat in the Beirut 1 constituency during parliamentary elections. The Bhamdoun Synagogue was abandoned in 1976. Today, according to my sources, only around twenty Lebanese Jews still reside permanently in Lebanon.

The U.S. is in much deeper trouble than we think… When the war with Iran returns to full-scale hostilities - because yes, it will - the real challenge will not only be military. It will be domestic. If Congress and Trump ever reactivate the draft or impose a wartime mobilization, we should expect major American cities to erupt. The coalition opposing this effort is predictable : a Left historically skeptical, if not hostile, to the use of military force abroad, alongside immigrants for whom ideological and cultural ties to countries of origin remain powerful. Yesterday's election in New York offered a striking example : Palestinian State Senator-elect Aber Kawas celebrated her victory with the message "We made history". We all know who "we" refers to in that sentence. This matters in a country where 50.2 million people (14.8% of the population) are foreign-born. The U.S. can no longer assume that every community will instinctively interpret a distant foreign war, and the sacrifices it requires, through exactly the same national lens. And unlike 2001, there is currently no 9/11-type event on American soil capable of closing those divisions overnight. After 9/11, George W. Bush’s approval jumped from 51% to 86% within days and eventually reached 90%. Nearly 90% of Americans supported military retaliation. Today, the fighting is still perceived as happening thousands of miles away, while Americans increasingly experience the war through its economic and human costs at home. Samuel Huntington once warned in Who Are We? (2004) : "The Stars and Stripes were at half-mast, and other flags flew higher on the flagpole of American identities". The U.S. still have the power to wage war abroad. But does it still has the unity to endure one at home ?