Israel’s Defense Minister Wants To Send Humanitarian Aid to Lebanon

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has offered to send humanitarian aid to Lebanon to help it weather the current economic crisis. The Israeli military’s Liaison Unit relayed the offer, announced on Tuesday, through UNIFIL, the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon. “As an Israeli, as a Jew and as a human being, my heart aches seeing the images of people going hungry on the streets of Lebanon. Israel has offered assistance to Lebanon in the past and even today we are ready to act, and to encourage other countries to extend a helping hand to Lebanon so that it will once again flourish and emerge from its state of crisis,” Gantz said. Since Israel and Lebanon do not have diplomatic relations and since Lebanon’s powerful Hizbullah movement views the elimination of Israel as a primary goal, the much-needed assistance is expected to be rejected. Lebanon is in the worst economic crisis in more than 150 years and its cities have been engulfed in popular protests in recent weeks.