Less than three months before general elections are to be held in Lebanon, the country is in turmoil, though not yet in one of its periodic civil wars. The most severe problem is the collapse of the economy, spreading misery to many walks of the population, though not to a corrupt and incompetent elite. The governor of the central bank is suspected of using his decades-old job as a sort of a political mafia accountant. Hezbollah ignores Lebanon’s interest in peace and quiet on its borders by provoking Israel. Lebanon’s Sunni leader Saad Hariri suspended his political career, leaving his followers at a disadvantage in the run-up to the elections, and there is no accountability for the devastating blast in Beirut in August 2020. What are we to make of the troubled Lebanese scene?
Joining us from elsewhere in Jerusalem is Dr. Nir Boms, Research fellow, Moshe Dayan center at Tel Aviv University. Also joining us from northern Israel is Dr. Fadi Essmaeel, Research Fellow at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism at IDC Herzliya, and Amir Oren, TV7 Editor at Large, Host of TV7 Watchmen Talk & Powers in Play.
