The assassination of Christian Lebanese Phalangist leader Bashir Gemayel was an explosion which rocked the region, and the massacres at Sabra and Shatila which followed in its wake horrified the world. This episode touches on a rabbinic debate over the morality of war, the political struggle over its consequences and sets the stage for a…
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Crossing into Lebanon to destroy PLO started as a successful mission, and when the IDF destroyed the Syrian SAM belt in the Bekaa Valley through Operation Mole Cricket 19 it looked like victory was assured. Nonetheless as Defense Minister Ariel Sharon pursued Yasser Arafat of the PLO (and his dreams of a peace treaty) into…
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Operation Peace for the Galilee begins with Israeli jets pounding Yasser Arafat’s PLO bases in southern Lebanon, but there is always a backstory. In this episode learn about the complicated history Lebanon’s civil wars fought between Christians, Moslems and Druze. Meet Ariel Sharon in his new role of Defense Minister, ever the bulldozer and now…
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Before we can discuss the outbreak of war between Israel and the PLO in Lebanon, we must lay out the political context. As Yasser Arafat and his Palestinian liberation army were massing troops along the border, and the city of Kiryat Shmona was facing bombardment, Prime Minister Menachem Begin visited US President Ronald Reagan in…
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