First Lebanon-born Christian joins Foreign Ministry diplomats training course

Lebanon-born Jonathan Elkhoury begins the Foreign Ministry Cadets Course for future diplomats, the first Lebanese Christian to do so.

Elkhoury, a Christian, fled Lebanon in 2001 at the age of 9 with his family, which includes members of the South Lebanon Army, which fought alongside the IDF in southern Lebanon until the IDF pulled out in 2000.

“For me, this was the most natural step in my life story, a direct continuation of the covenant that my parents signed with Israel in the 70s and 80s with the establishment of the SLA in South Lebanon,” Elkhoury writes on X.

Elkhoury has been a prominent pro-Israel advocate in recent years.

“The brotherhood covenant that was created for a shared goal of peace and good neighborliness is turning today into reality with the next generation that I’m a part of,” he continues, “in the country that has become my official and unshakable home, the sense of belonging that happened thanks to Israeli society and mainly out of the deep understanding that my fate and the fate of Israel are one.”

Thirty-six cadets began the course this week.