A year later from the «Divine Victory», maybe we should face the «Divine Difference».

First, there’s the difference between two societies. Even though one seems more homogeneous than the other, both of them are pluralistic. The Israeli society is, to a certain extent, as fragmented as the Lebanese one but it when it comes to politics, the rules are different.

At least fifteen different political parties are represented in the Knesset. The Israeli Jews who constitute around 80% of the Israeli population are divided into at least four ethnic groups. But when it comes to electing a Prime Minister, the Israeli citizens vote according to the candidate’s platform regardless of his political and ethnical affiliation. This being said, the Israelis remain loyal to their parties when it comes to legislative elections.

Then, there’s the difference in democracy. Every decision that is taken by every Israeli politician is subject to scrutiny and accountability. And this doesn’t end here: even when the disaster befalls on non-Israeli citizens, whoever is in charge is liable. Two great examples that the Lebanese could remember are the «Kahan» and «Winograd» commissions that were established after, respectively, the Sabra and Chatilla Massacres in 1982 and the Lebanon Summer War in 2006.

Last but not least, there’s the difference in global activism. Israel the state acts as a nation in the world. Every Israeli citizen in the world defends Israel, struggles for Israel, lobbies for Israel and, mostly, optimizes the support of the International Community for Israel.

In Lebanon, everyone’s divided, everyone wants to be the leader and everyone wants to be the President and the Prime Minister. And if your – tribal, feudal, confessional, party, whatever – leader is not the President or the Prime Minister, you’re willing to destroy the country to have him or her rule.

In Lebanon, if someone screws up, a shift of alliance will allow you to forgive and forget. Oh wait! Forgive? That’s not sure, you just keep his errors in the archives to use it against him once another shift of alliance will occur. Accountability? What does that mean? Oh yes! This could be used for selective criticism or selective justice.

In Lebanon, if someone tries to rally the support of the International Community to build a better country, what do you do? You do better. You rally the support of the rogue states to counter this attempt of having a better country…

Back to this «Divine Victory», Michael Young does a very good job demystifying it.