The Lebanese daily Nidaa Al-Watan dedicates its front page this Friday to one of the most painful and taboo aspects of the civil war: the kidnapping of members of the Lebanese Jewish community in Beirut in the mid-1980s. Under the headline "This is how the 'Oppressed' killed 11 Jews of Lebanon ," the newspaper delves into these disappearances and the fate of several hostages, some of whom were still reported alive in 1985. In a country where this part of history is rarely addressed so directly, Nidaa Al-Watan is currently the only Lebanese daily to place this issue so openly at the heart of its front page. A courageous choice, given how sensitive the subject remains more than 40 years after the events.
Six Lebanese Jews were still reported alive in September 1985.
The investigation focuses in particular on the disappearance of several Lebanese Jews in Beirut in 1985. An article published on September 13 of that year reported that six abducted Lebanese Jews were still alive. These abductions did not occur during the early weeks of the civil war, which began in 1975, but rather during a particularly violent period of the conflict, ten years later, when Beirut was divided between different armed forces. The victims belonged to a Lebanese Jewish community already considerably reduced by the exodus caused by successive wars and political instability.
Threats followed by announcements of executions
The documents reproduced by Nidaa Al-Watan allow us to follow the chronology of events at the end of 1985. On December 17, 1985, an armed group threatened to execute the hostages if prisoners held in Khiam were not released. A few days later, on December 24, the group announced the execution of one of the hostages, Hayim Kohen-Halaqa , described as an Iranian national living in Lebanon. His assassination was claimed as retaliation for Israeli bombings of villages in southern Lebanon. On December 28, further threats were made against the other Jewish hostages. On January 1, 1986, a second execution was announced, that of Yitzak Tarab , again presented by the kidnappers as a response to Israeli operations in the south of the country.
The "Organization of the Oppressed on Earth" at the heart of the case
The kidnappings and claims of responsibility are attributed to a group known as the "Organization of the Oppressed on Earth ," whose activities in Lebanon during the 1980s are the focus of the investigation published by the newspaper. Nidaa Al-Watan revisits the fate of 11 Lebanese Jews kidnapped during this period and the assassinations announced by their captors. The newspaper also reproduces declassified American documents and press articles from the time, allowing readers to trace the threats made against the hostages and the successive announcements of their execution.
A historic community that has almost entirely disappeared
Before the civil war, Lebanon was home to a Jewish community that had been established for generations. In Beirut, its historic center was located in the Wadi Abu Jamil neighborhood. The Maghen Abraham Synagogue, situated in the heart of the capital, remains one of the last visible symbols of this presence. The civil war, the violence, the emigration, and the kidnappings gradually emptied the country of almost its entire Jewish population. The article published by Nidaa Al-Watan also recalls the violence committed in Wadi Abu Jamil, where houses abandoned by Jewish families were occupied and where community property was looted or damaged.
Nidaa Al-Watan chooses to reopen a case that many prefer to forget
By dedicating its front page and several pages to this case today, Nidaa Al-Watan is making a particularly strong editorial choice. The newspaper is the only one to so directly bring to the attention of the Lebanese people the fate of these Jewish citizens abducted during the war, while this issue remains largely absent from public debate.
More than 40 years after the events, the newspaper refuses to let these disappearances remain confined to the archives. By publishing the names, documents, and chronology of the abductions, it brings to the forefront a question long left in the shadows: the fate of the Lebanese Jews kidnapped in Beirut and who is responsible for their disappearance. A courageous step in a country where many crimes of the civil war remain shrouded in silence.
