“Hezbollah-affiliated cleric Sheikh Sadiq al-Nabulsi stated that a war with Israel could “deliver” Lebanon from its ongoing political and economic crisis in an interview with the Lebanese Al-Jadeed TV earlier this month, according to a translation published by MEMRI.” (Jerusalem Post July 21, 2023). Lebanon has had political and economic crises for decades, including a civil war, the building of Hezbollah’s state-within-a-state with its parallel government, social service and military facilities, chronic corruption and provoking senseless wars with its neighbour Israel. At present its government is in a political stalemate and the economy is in turmoil. It is beyond the pale that there are calls within the state to start a war in Israel, which would result in countless deaths and much destruction in both Israel and Lebanon, presumably with the aim of consolidating Hezbollah’s power and counting on billions of dollars and foreign aid to rebuild the country. This brings to mind an old Russian joke in which Nikita Khrushchev (the then First Secretary of the Communist Party) contemplates declaring a war on America as a means of getting American aid to save the economy, and is told of the possible flaw in his thinking, “But what if we win?” The difference here is that this is no joke. The world however seems wilfully deaf to the possibility.