Israel settlers publish children’s book claiming ‘Lebanon is ours’

 Israeli settlers have published a new children’s book propagating Lebanon as belonging to Israel, as the Zionist state pushes forward with its planned offensive against its northern neighbour amid Israeli settler groups’ aims to colonise and settle on Lebanese territory.

In a viral video that has been circulating on X and other social media sites, an Israeli settler father can be seen reading a book to his young son, titled ‘Alon and Lebanon’. The book is reportedly based on the fictional story of a young Israeli boy named Alon, who has grown up in the kibbutz of Misgav Am on the border with Lebanon.

After he and his family are driven from the settlement due to the escalating conflict across the border, Alon misses the picturesque views of Lebanon from his bedroom window, saying in the book that “This is Lebanon, it is beautiful. I love to go to Lebanon and stroll there”.

When he is told, however, that “It is dangerous; you cannot go there; it is not ours yet”, the book then narrates that “Alon thought and said, Lebanon is ours.”

READ: From Scratch: ‘Greater Israel’

Authored by Amos Azariah, a lecturer at Ariel University in an illegal West Bank settlement, the book was reportedly published by the extremist settler group ‘Uri Tzafon’ . That organisation has been infamous in recent weeks for posting advertisements for new properties it claims will soon be available in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces increasingly push into the country with the aim of combatting the militant group Hezbollah.

Although the Israeli government has kept the scope of its aims on defeating the group, and has not formally announced any plans to occupy Lebanon and settle Jewish immigrants on newly-conquered territory, Uri Tzafon is one of many Jewish settler groups that aim to officially expand Israel’s territory in the region.

Literature targeting children seems to be part of that effort, with ‘Alon and Lebanon’ reportedly having been crowd-funded by the Israeli settler group ‘Wake Up North’ to plant the “seeds of longing for Lebanon” in young children, according to Israeli news outlet Haaretz.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241006-israel-settlers-publish-childrens-book-claiming-lebanon-is-ours/