❗️Pro-Israel Lebanese-born 'activist' joins Israel's diplomatic corps training program A Lebanese-born Christian has become the first to join Israel’s Foreign Ministry cadet training program, joining 36 participants preparing for diplomatic careers. Jonathan Elkhoury left Lebanon with his family in 2001, aged nine. His family included members of the South Lebanon Army (SLA), a Christian-led militia that fought alongside Israeli occupation forces against Hezbollah during Israel’s occupation of south Lebanon between 1985 and 2000. Elkhoury, a prominent pro-Israel advocate in recent years, described his admission to the diplomatic program as an extension of his family’s longstanding relationship with Israel. “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,” he wrote on X. Selected from nearly 2,000 applicants, the 36 cadets began their six-month training course on Sunday. The program prepares participants for civil service positions at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem and Israeli diplomatic missions abroad. In his social media post, Elkhoury called Israel his home, declaring that his “fate and the fate of Israel are one.”