US Deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus was in Beirut at the weekend to again urge Lebanon’s new government to comply with the ceasefire agreement and UN resolutions by disarming Hezbollah.
Official sources described her meetings with President Joseph Aoun and other top Lebanese officials as “constructive” and “positive,” but local media suggested the atmosphere might have been somewhat more tense.
According to Lebanon’s MTV News, Ortagus warned that the only way for Beirut to regain the trust of foreign investors and secure the financial aid needed to rebuilt the country was to end the Hezbollah threat to Israel.
UN Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006, stipulated that the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers were to be the only armed forces south of Lebanon’s Litani River. It also called for the eventual full disarmament of Hezbollah and all other non-governmental armed forces in Lebanon.
But the resolution was never enforced, largely due to the fact that Hezbollah controls a powerful bloc in the Lebanese Parliament, giving it effective veto power over government policy. There is also an overriding fear in Lebanon of yet another civil war should the army try to forcibly disarm Hezbollah.
The result was that quite to the contrary of Resolution 1701’s stated aims, Hezbollah further entrenched and bolstered its forces in southern Lebanon, presenting an even greater threat to Israel than before that war.
In the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 invasion, in which Israel now knows Hezbollah was supposed to take part, there is consensus in the Jewish state that the Hezbollah threat can no longer be tolerated, and that any and all necessary military action be taken.
Lebanese media outlet Al-Jadeed reported that Ortagus had all but threatened a significant escalation of hostilities should Lebanon fail to disarm Hezbollah, the assumed meaning being that the Trump administration will back any action Israel decides to take.
Ortagus’ Star of David
Many Lebanese media outlets seemed more concerned with the American envoy’s attire than with her dire message.
Ortagus met with Lebanon’s leaders while clearly displaying a Star of David necklace, a fact highlighted by Al-Jadeed and others.
Ortagus also caused a stir during her first visit to Beirut in February, when she was photographed shaking hands with Aoun wearing a Star of David ring.
Lebanese are going wild over U.S. Deputy Middle East Envoy Morgan Ortagus wearing a Star of David ring while shaking hands with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. “This envoy is more Zionist than her predecessors,” this guy says. I guess he is unaware of Hochstein’s IDF service. https://t.co/fbNxM4dbCR
— Ariel Oseran أريئل أوسيران (@ariel_oseran) February 7, 2025
Ortagus is a convert to Judaism and is married to Jewish businessman Jonathan Weinberger.
