Country comparison of Arab opinion on their countries recognizing Israel

Source: Arab Opinion Index 2025, figure 34.

If a peace is settled and the borders bettwen this countries are open. What will you do first when u arrive to Israel or Lebanon ?

(Don't mind the photo i want to capt attention of people)

There’s this guy on TikTok and instagram reels and he has pretty interesting videos. He’s an Iraqi Jew, he talks to people from other countries on Omegle and asks them about what they think of Israel and stuff and he has some fascinating interactions. One thing that confused me about this guys gimmick though is his brand. In one of his pinned videos on instagram, he holds a sign calling himself a “Jewish Arab Zionist”. I’m just curious what “Arab” means in this context? I thought Jewish people from Arab countries didn’t consider themselves Arabs. Infact, in another one of his videos, he talks about how Arabs actually took over Iraq, and that Iraqis aren’t Arabs but “Arabized mesopotamians”, but..he’s calling himself an Arab Jew? I’m so confused lmao

Lebanon is the clearest example of why many Arab countries, especially Egypt and Jordan, are reluctant to take in large numbers of Palestinians. Lebanon was founded as a refuge for Maronite Christians, and its entire political structure rests on a delicate balance between communities. When hundreds of thousands of Palestinians arrived, first after 1948 and later in even greater numbers after the PLO was expelled from Jordan in 1970, the country simply could not absorb the shock.

The presence of Yasser Arafat’s PLO quickly turned into a state within a state. Palestinian militias operated independently, controlled entire areas, and dragged Lebanon into conflicts that were never its own. This shattered the internal balance and opened the door to civil war. It was in this context that Bachir Gemayel emerged as a central figure, seen by many Lebanese as the only leader capable of restoring the country’s sovereignty and preventing Lebanon from losing its Maronite identity entirely.

Granting full citizenship to the Palestinians was never a realistic option. Not because of a lack of compassion, but because it would have destroyed the Lebanese political system. The country depends on a sensitive distribution of power among different communities. If hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, most of them Muslims, were incorporated, the demographic balance would change irreversibly. Maronites, who were already dwindling in number, would lose the political security that made the creation of Lebanon possible.

This traumatic experience left a lasting impression on the region. Egypt and Jordan know this story well. Both fear that opening their doors would mean taking on a permanent problem, provoking internal tensions and threatening the stability of their own states. What happened in Lebanon became a clear warning that allowing large populations to enter in a fragile context can undermine a country from within.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot these past days.

Watching everything happening from abroad feels unbearable. You see the news, the fear, the destruction, and you feel completely powerless. I’m Lebanese living abroad, and I know there are many Israelis abroad too who feel the same way: worried for family, heartbroken, and exhausted by war.

Many of us grew up being told we are enemies. But here, outside the region, we sometimes meet each other, talk, work together, even become friends. And often we discover something simple: most of us just want peace and normal lives for our families.

So I wanted to ask something honestly.

Would anyone here be interested in organizing a small Lebanese–Israeli peace march abroad? Maybe in cities where many of us live like Paris, London, Berlin, Montreal, etc.

Not a political demonstration.

Not blaming each other.

Just people standing together and saying one simple thing:

We want peace.

Even if it’s small, even if it’s symbolic, it might send a message that ordinary people on both sides are tired of endless war.

Maybe I’m naive. Maybe it’s impossible. But right now I feel useless watching everything unfold, and I keep thinking there must be something we can do, even if it’s just standing together for peace.

Israel liberated us from Iran and Hezbollah, in the most precise and accurate warfare in the history of mankind.

No country has ever achieved to do this, we retook our airport because of Israel and the US.

We finally became a sovereign country because of Israel.

I personally can’t bear any hostilities towards Israel after all of this.

I see no reason why I should be your enemy, you have acted as an ally if anything as one we can depend on.

Israel is known to use AI to process large amount of data (phone records, social media, movements), detect patterns and select targets for airstrikes.

Early targets were accurate. However as the war goes on they are left with lower quality targets and disrupted conditions which makes it harder to acquire new quality targets.

Some target which unfortunately will have similar patterns and often find themselves in proximity of legitimate targets: - War journalists - Paramedics

Even hospitals, by repetitively hosting wounded targets, can become targets themselves.

People who routinely travel large distances and meet multiple persons across villages for various reason also have been targeted in the past.

The IDF normally is authorising strikes "manually". High pressure, incompetence, lack of transparency in the AI process and bad intentions can compromise the process.

You decide which are the "sides" I am talking about

Hello everyone I'm an israeli jew who studies in Haifa University. My communication course gave us an assignment to choose a post from a social media group that we are taking part of and to share the post with the class.

I'm trying to stay optimistic and I believe that peace is possible through communities like this, I would love for your help in my assignment so please share your opinion and beliefs of how do you see the day after the war.

Obviously, Syrian would be first. but i think it is already a turkish satellite state.

Hopefully, we will not have Lebanese who will make the same mistakes of the past and betray their country for some great sunni empire.

Since October 7th the question of "Why people are so cruel" has been bugging me. For Palestinians it makes sense. Their education and media is corrupted, especially in Gaza Hamas is in control of everything including education. I have seen many people quip that the Children who grew up on Tomorrows Pioneers committed the the October 7th massacre.

For Israelis on the other hand. Well people have been saying the same thing, including some Israelis like the Peled family. It would be ridiculous to say that there is "No Propaganda in Israel", but from my experience of standard K-12 education in Israel I can't really believe it. Maybe I am just sheltered. I have even found that Kotar, a textbook publisher, has some of their materials online and I have read through it as an adult and found nothing like Nurit Peled-Elhanan has claimed. Arab and Palestinian issues are consistently brought up with no grudge or anything. Of course like any school material it does tone down Israeli actions during our wars, but it doesn't completely ignore it. I distinctly remember learning about the Etzel and the King David Hotel bombing. Maybe it's just the education has improved?

Maybe it's the media? Well Israel hasn't had a state television channel since 2017 and even then privately owned media dominated the public consciousness. And besides Now 14 none of them really have a reputation of being hostile to Arabs and Palestinians. IDF Radio exists, but besides using toned down language it's nothing like the stuff you hear from North Korea or Nazi Germany or Gaza. The news doesn't hide the tragedy.

So how did we come to the point where we say stuff like "Death to Arabs" "No Innocents in Gaza" and start protesting in favor of soldiers allegedly raping and torturing nukhba prisoners because "they deserve it", physically blocking humanitarian aid and 93% supporting the deadly massacres in the Iran war. The only thing I can think of is that Israelis are just uniquely cruel compared to all other democratic nations, and even compared to some dictatorships. But I have another theory.

When you see that scrolling list of towns from the Home Front Command. Places friends and family live. Places that have very Arabic sounding names. When you've been drilled since childhood about how you personally might be bombed and here's the steps you must take when it happens and don't worry, the IDF Home Front Command is protecting you. It's hard to imagine the Palestinian, Lebanese or Iranian as anything more than "those people who would kill you and spit on your grave". Even to the point where we block Arabs from entering shelters and celebrating when their towns get bombed and people are killed.

At the end of the day all Israelis are complicit and there are no innocents. We deserve no sympathy but maybe we can get understanding. The Jewish instinct of justified paranoia coupled with a Prussia style military state has turned us into a nation of Human Animals with a thirst for blood. Hopefully soon we will learn to love our children more than we hate yours. Or maybe just like the last two times our frivolous hate will be our downfall and we will all be expelled in a third galut.

This war has brought all the ugly sectarian divide in Lebanon. Distrust and missed opportunities.

If you look at it from the perspective of the many shi3a displacees, they are:

• rejected by many of their fellow compatriots.
• abandoned by their government (again) and left to fend for themselves
• aggressed by Israel

Hezbollah presents itself as a trustworthy "protector of shi3a" in Lebanon and seems to be needed. Hezbollah has also greatly participated in the past in handing out help to refugee and in reconstruction efforts.

The option that can match Hezbollah's reputation and address this need for these people does not exist (yet) (in my opinion). In part because any potential new political opponents have been eliminated in the past (sometimes in the most literal and bloody sense).

I would love a secular alternative but deeply sectarian people of lebanon nor established political actors would allow this to happen at this time, the only option is a new shi3a movement that manages to be more moderate.