How Genuine Is Israel's 'Offer of Assistance' to Lebanon? Lebanese Tweets Remember the 2006 War and Last Week's Threats

Several Israeli official Twitter accounts have posted "solidarity" and "sympathy" messages with the Lebanese people in the wake of the Beirut port explosions that shocked the world two days ago, but most Lebanese commentators were not impressed. 

Posting in Arabic and English, Israeli official social media expressed their desire to "transcend conflict" and "offered to send humanitarian and medical assistance to Lebanon." They also shared videos of Israeli young people "sending a message of support and solidarity with the people of Lebanon."

However, many Lebanese Twitter users rejected the Israeli messages saying that they "don't believe sympathy from a country that has attacked theirs several times in the past," referring to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the 2006 Israeli attack which killed about 1200 civilians in different Lebanese cities. 

Additionally, some tweets highlighted Israeli threats of "a massive attack" on the country if Iranian-backed Hezbollah retaliated for the Israeli killing of one its members in Syria a few weeks ago, suggesting that past Israeli attacks on Hezbollah didn't spare the country's infrastructure and civilian population."

Some also stressed the fact that the Israeli military still occupies the Lebanese territories of Shebaa Farms.

Supporting their points, a few tweets referred to a tweet posted by an Israeli politician a week ago, in which he pointed at "Israeli readiness to launch an attack against Lebanon."

Social media commentators also went on to suspect the Israeli role in the blast, especially as the reason for the fire that triggered the huge blast, remains unknown.

Online people questioning Israel's "potential involvement" in the blast refered to a 2018 speech made by the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the UN Headquarters in New York, in which he presented aerial photos of the Beirut sites including the city's main port to "show" warehouses where he claimed that Hezbollah stores arms.

Translation: "Netanyahu held photos of Beirut airport at the UN and claimed at that time that Hezbollah stores explosives in several sites including the city's port. Does Israel have anything to do with the Beirut blast?"