Lebanese Shiite journalist and media personality Nadim Koteich wrote in an article in the popular London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that Hezbollah is holding the country hostage and preventing it from reaching a peace agreement with Israel.
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According to a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute, Koteich, who is known for his opposition to Hezbollah, said that an agreement with Israel would allow Lebanon to take advantage of much-needed energy resources.
The Iranian-backed terrorist group is using a 'conflict first' strategy, he explained, that keeps Lebanon from reaching understandings with Israel on the demarcation of the maritime border, which would enable it to drill for gas.
Koteich called on the Lebanese to free themselves of Hezbollah's grip and sign a peace agreement with Israel, since there is no ideological dispute between them but only technical problems that can be resolved.
But more than that, he wrote: "Can Lebanon be sure that the pharmaceutical labs all over the world have no Israelis working in research and development? Can the Lebanese make sure that their children studying in universities abroad will graduate without having their ideas contaminated by ideas of Israeli philosophers, who are now among the world's leading thinkers, such as Yuval [Noah] Harari and Daniel Kahneman? Can they ensure that [what they watch] on Netflix and on similar entertainment platforms is free of Israeli content?"
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Koteich noted that country is holding back its own progress.
"What prevents Lebanon from being part of the changes that have taken place in the Eastern Mediterranean in the area of gas?" he posed. "Very simply, what prevents this is the culture of perpetuating the conflict with Israel."
It should be noted that this was not the first time Koteich has called for Lebanon to forge peace with Israel.
In September 2020 he penned an article titled When Will There Be Peace Between Lebanon and Israel? in which he advised the Lebanese to join the dynamic of peace in the region, and argued that peace with Israel was in Lebanon's interest, but that Hezbollah was standing in the way.
Similar calls were also made by other Lebanese politicians and journalists over the last 18 months.
JNS.org contributed to this report.
