By The Free Press | Created at 2024-10-20 21:40:54 | Updated at 2024-10-20 23:53:57
2 hours ago
Welcome back to Hezbollah’s Hostages, the weekly animated video series spotlighting the terror group’s courageous opponents in Arab lands. Our first episodes brought you harrowing accounts of how Hezbollah brainwashes vulnerable young people and forces them into sex slavery and the drug trade. We took you inside the group’s monstrous shadow capital, and gave voice to an Arab man who risked assassination for advocating for peace with Israel.
Episode Six, “A Walk in the Woods,” tells the story of Ali, a young Lebanese Shi’ite who committed a radical act with four friends: They took a walk in the woods to enjoy the beauty and peace of their own country.
Sitting in a grove listening to birds, the quiet outing of the three young men and two young women was soon interrupted by the force that really controls Lebanon: Hezbollah, the terror organization that does Iran’s bidding.
Hezbollah fighters began throwing rocks at the group, then set upon Ali with clubs, delivering a bone-shattering beating. Miraculously, the five youths managed to escape.
Later, as he recovered in his hospital bed, Ali resolved that no one should be above the law. Though loved ones warned him it was too dangerous to challenge the power of Hezbollah, he risked everything to sue his attackers.
Today, personal acts of resistance like Ali’s carry geopolitical significance. For too long, the millions of people victimized by Hezbollah have been ignored and forgotten. Now the world is watching as Israel—which is hit daily by Hezbollah’s rockets and missiles—fights back against the terror group.
But a military victory alone will not be enough to destroy its influence. Hezbollah will not go quietly. Determined civilians like Ali, who rise up against the group, also need sustained international support—using all powers the world can bring to bear—to affect true political change. Change that will allow Ali to live in a Lebanon where he can take a simple walk in the woods.
Get to know Ali in Episode Six of our series, produced by our partners at the Center for Peace Communications.
Follow The Center for Peace Communications’ work on X @PeaceComCenter and on Instagram @PeaceComms.
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