Lebanese media expert and activist Eli Khoury asked in an April 6, 2023 interview on Spot Shot (Lebanon) what is stopping Lebanon from making peace with Israel, and when the interviewer said that this was because Israel has carried out massacres, Khoury said that Iran and Syria have also carried out massacres and atrocities, yet the Lebanese people treat them as "best friends" and send their armies and militias to defend them. He also said that the Ba'ath party in Syria and the mullahs in Iran are more "stupid" than Israel, which has at least achieved technological success while they have failed in liberating Palestine.
Interviewer: "Would you like to live in a country that signs a peace [deal] with Israel?"
Eli Khoury: "Why not? Why not? I don't understand. What's stopping us?"
Interviewer: "Israel has perpetrated massacres against us."
Khoury: "Syria and Iran have also perpetrated massacres. Let's open a ledger and see who has a debt to whom. Let's assume that Israel is Lebanon's eternal enemy, as you claim. I am willing to accept that, in order to protect national unity, even though I don't really believe in this. I'm not talking about me personally, but about the public at large.
"You brainless people should really explain the issue of Syria and Iran to me. They perpetrated atrocities but you have no problem with this. You keep smooching them day and night. You treat them as your best friends, and send your army and your militias to defend them, while you send your compatriots, who were destroyed by the Ba'ath Party to the garbage bin. Why is that?
[...]
"You refer to Israel as an enemy..."
Interviewer: "Don't you consider Israel to be an enemy?"
Khoury: "No. I don't consider anyone to be an enemy, and I don't consider anyone to be a friend either. All I care about are the Lebanese. That's it. In addition, I consider the Ba'ath Party and the Iranian mullahs much more stupid [than Israel]. At least [the Israelis] have something to be proud about. They have technology they can be proud of. What have others done? By Allah, what do they have to be proud of? What have they created apart from the stupid situation we are in?
"If only they managed to liberate something... Brother, what is this endless project? When will you liberate something? We cannot wait all our lives. You've been 'liberating' for 60 or 70 years now, and said that 'no voice is louder than the sound of the battle,' and talked about imperialism... Haven't you had enough? Three-quarters of the Arabs threw you away and moved on already."