{"id":594601,"date":"2026-08-24T15:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T15:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/594601\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T15:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T15:54:09","slug":"israeli-journalist-lebanese-civilians-ready-for-peace-drinks-in-tel-aviv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/594601\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli journalist: Lebanese civilians ready for peace, drinks in Tel Aviv"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cA lot of Lebanese people tell me all the time that they want to visit Israel and that we\u2019re welcome there,\u201d independent journalist and political analyst Selena Ryan<\/a> told The Jerusalem Post on Monday, a day after her latest collaboration with This Is Beirut went viral.<\/p>\n

Ryan, who is serving in the IDF<\/a> and describes her political outlook as right-wing, invited Lebanese civilians to join Israelis for beers in Tel Aviv and arak, an anise-flavored alcoholic drink popular across the Levant, in Jaffa in a video that has amassed tens of thousands of views on X\/Twitter alone.<\/p>\n

The video notably featured Deputy Mayor Guy Avner, who said it was \u201conly a matter of time before peace comes between the people of Israel and the people of Lebanon.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome to Tel Aviv, have a beer, enjoy the nightlife, enjoy the sea, enjoy the weather\u2026We\u2019re going to be happy to host you,\u201d Avner said.<\/p>\n

Private messages reveal support for Israel-Lebanon peace, Ryan says<\/p>\n

Though Lebanon has borne the burden of Hezbollah\u2019s war against Israel, Ryan said fewer Lebanese civilians than one might expect hold Israel responsible for the devastation.<\/p>\n

\"NightNight view of skyscrapers in the skyline of Tel Aviv, on July 6, 2025 (credit: Shahar Yaari\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say there are many more positive comments than negative ones, but not all of them are public. Those who hate us have no problem expressing that publicly, while those who want peace are often afraid to say so publicly,\u201d she said, explaining that online comments and inflamed rhetoric coming out of Lebanon do not necessarily reflect the reality on the ground.<\/p>\n

The response, particularly the messages she receives privately, suggests that the public conversation online may not fully capture Lebanese civilians\u2019 attitudes toward Israel and the possibility of peace, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201c[I\u2019m] right-wing, but that doesn\u2019t mean I don\u2019t want peace,\u201d Ryan explained to the Post, noting that there is a certain idea of what her beliefs are based on that fact alone that is not representative of reality. \u201cI believe in peace through strength.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lebanese Shiites seek alternatives to Hezbollah<\/p>\n

Contrary to polls and statements from public officials, Ryan said she has received many messages from Shia Muslims, in addition to messages from other sects, in Lebanon expressing a desire for peace.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of people in Lebanon<\/a>, Shia, who are working against Hezbollah, and they\u2019re trying to create an alternative for the Shi\u2019as to look up to. For now, the leadership of the Shia community in Lebanon is largely seen as being Hezbollah, so they\u2019re trying to create an alternative,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re also working toward the next elections to win seats, so they can start working to change the whole view of the Shia population, not necessarily about Israel, but about Lebanon itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Political groups like Tayyar al-Taghyeer Fi al-Janoub, or the Change Movement in the South, have focused on building a Lebanese Shia identity away from Hezbollah and sectarian divisions, with an emphasis on issues such as Lebanese sovereignty and economic change.<\/p>\n

Research from the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center has also suggested that Hezbollah\u2019s hold over Lebanon\u2019s Shias has diminished as the cumulative damage of wars launched by the group has increasingly been borne by civilians.<\/p>\n

\u201c[They] understand that Hezbollah<\/a> does not represent Lebanon; it represents Iran\u2019s interests against Israel from Lebanese territory. So yeah, there [are] a lot of Shias that are for peace,\u201d Ryan said.<\/p>\n

Nasrallah assassination marked turning point, Ryan says<\/p>\n

Though Ryan has long received messages expressing a desire for peace, she said the sentiment became more widely held and openly expressed after Israel assassinated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in September 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople realized that Hezbollah was not there to protect the Lebanese, but was there just to fulfill Iran\u2019s agenda against Israel, and nothing more than that. It had nothing to do with Lebanon\u2019s security. I think that\u2019s when people switched, and I think there are people who are still learning about this and changing their opinions every day,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think more and more people realize that peace is the only solution because they see what\u2019s happening now in their country, and they understand that it\u2019s not their war and that it\u2019s a war that is not related to Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cA lot of Lebanese people tell me all the time that they want to visit Israel and that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[33437,42,86,1031,46,236795,88,47,43,17428,116,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-594601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-beirut","tag-headlines","tag-hezbollah","tag-idf","tag-israel","tag-israel-lebanon-peace-deal","tag-lebanon","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-peace","tag-tel-aviv","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}