A photo of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun shaking hands with an Israeli Druze religious leader at the Vatican has turned into a controversy for the Lebanese leader. After the photo appeared, showing Aoun briefly meeting Israel’s Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, the Lebanese leader denied knowing who the Druze leader was.
The Lebanese president is protesting too much, because he was at the Vatican for the coronation of Pope Leo XIV and therefore would have recognized Tarif as a Druze leader. Druze only live in large numbers in Israel, Lebanon, and Syria. Aoun would have known Tarif wasn’t Lebanese, because Aoun knows the Druze leaders of Lebanon.
תמונה שלא רואים כל יום. נשיא לבנון, ג’וזף עון, לוחץ את ידו של מנהיגה הרוחני של העדה הדרוזית בישראל, השייח’ מופק טריף, בשולי השבעת האפיפיור בוותיקן pic.twitter.com/XvsHHJDu0I
— roi kais • روعي كايس • רועי קייס (@kaisos1987) May 18, 2025
Following the controversy, Lebanon’s president’s office put out a statement claiming, “The president does not know Sheikh Tarif.” Aoun blamed Israeli media. “It later became clear he was Sheikh Mowafak Tarif, the representative of the Druze community in Israel,” the statement read.
Lebanon appeared to blame Israeli media for circulating the image. “This is typical behavior by Israeli media at similar international events. There’s no need to amplify such falsehoods and serve the Israeli enemy.”
The fear that Lebanese have of interacting with Israelis, even at foreign events, illustrates how far off normalization between the two countries remains. There is no reason for the Christian president of Lebanon to fear meeting an Israeli Druze.
The fact that they are basically forbidden from meeting due to incitement in Lebanon is largely due to the lingering effects of Iran and Hezbollah’s control of Lebanon. Lebanese Druze, Christians, and Sunni Muslims, as well as other Lebanese Christians, have no reason to have such a fear of meeting people from Israel.
It is only Iran’s tentacles that caused this extreme reaction in Lebanon. This fear extends deeper in Lebanon than in many other countries, even though Lebanon is more diverse than much of the region. Lebanese refuse to interact with Israelis in other contexts for fear of prosecution at home.
Druze have been in the headlines increasingly because Israel has vowed to protect Druze in Lebanon from attacks by the government. Druze in Israel have backed this policy. Lebanon’s Druze politician Walid Jumblatt also went to Damascus to meet with Syria’s President Ahmed al-Shara’a to discuss the situation.
Therefore, the Druze have become more visible in all three countries in recent months. Syria’s Druze community is split between different activists and leaders who advocate different policies.
Netanyahu put out a statement after speaking to Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif
On May 2 Israel’s Prime Minister Office put out a statement noting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “spoke with the spiritual leader of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, who thanked him for his directive to take strong action to protect the Druze in Syria in recent days, including the Prime Minister’s decision last night to strike the Presidential Palace compound in Damascus.”
It went on to note that “Sheikh Tarif said that the vigorous actions directed by the Prime Minister have sent a deterrent message to the Syrian regime regarding Israel’s commitment to the Druze community in Syria. Prime Minister Netanyahu told Sheikh Tarif that he expects the Druze community to respect the law in Israel, as it has done previously, and not take any action whatsoever against other citizens or security forces personnel.”
Hundreds of Druze from Syria visited Israel in April for an event. This illustrates how the Druze communities are linked. However, in Lebanon, the president is still afraid to meet an Israeli Druze spiritual leader at an event at the Vatican.
Interactions between Lebanese and Israelis are rare. Back in 2014, the head of Lebanon’s Maronite Church, Cardinal Bechara Ra’i, visited Israel and spoke at a parish in what was formerly a pilgrimage. It was linked to a visit by then-Pope Francis.
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