US President Donald J. Trump recently said that he has never heard of a Lebanese law banning contact with Israel. "I never heard of that, but... I'm pretty sure that'll be ended very quickly," Trumptoldreporters. "I know Lebanon doesn't want that... That's crazy."
Trump is right. These laws are "crazy." They are also poisonous.
So long as Arabs and Muslims are taught by law, religion and social pressure that contact with Israelis is forbidden, the prospects for peace and coexistence will remain out of reach.
There can be no real stability in the Middle East while anti-normalization laws and campaigns persist. Such laws and campaigns only empower extremists and terrorists who seek Israel's and the region's destruction.
Trump is reportedly seeking toinviteLebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a meeting in the White House as part of an effort to achieve peace and stability between Lebanon and Israel. If Aoun, however, were to accept Trump's invitation to meet Netanyahu at the White House, he would effectively be violating Lebanon's own anti-normalization law, which prohibits all economic, professional, cultural, or social relations between Lebanese nationals and Israeli citizens and entities.
Lebanon's anti-normalization law, rooted in the 1955 Boycott Law and reinforced by the penal code,prohibitsvirtually all contact with Israel, which is classified as an "enemy state."
The law goes even further. It bars any person or legal entity, directly or indirectly, fromengagingin any transaction -- commercial, financial, or otherwise -- with individuals or organizations linked to Israel.
The penalties are severe. Violators canfaceprison terms ranging from three to ten years with hard labor, in addition to fines, professional bans, and the confiscation of goods.
What may sound "crazy" in Washington is, in fact, standard practice in several Arab and Islamic countries. Lebanon is not the exception; it is the rule.
Legislation to prevent countries from establishing normal relations with Israel has existed in the region for decades. Countries such as Syria and Iraq have long maintained sweepingprohibitionson contact with Israelis, with penalties that have included life imprisonment and even death.
Source: Gatestone Institute :: Articles
