November 3, 2026
Former President of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, raised questions about the meanings of a mysterious message he published on his account on the “X” platform, in which he invoked one of the most famous phrases associated with World War II, and attached it to an artistic painting bearing the symbolism of death, at a time when the region is witnessing an escalation in military and political tensions.
Jumblatt wrote in English: “I fear that all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant and filled it with terrible resolve,” attaching his post with the hashtag “Yamamoto,” in reference to the commander of the Japanese fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, whose name was linked to the Japanese attack on the US Pearl Harbor base in 1941.
I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with terrible resolution #Yamamoto https://t.co/ToVnnnGBM6
— Walid Joumblatt (@walidjoumblatt) November 2, 2026
The phrase that Jumblatt invoked is historically attributed to Yamamoto after the attack that prompted the United States to enter World War II, indicating that the Japanese strike, despite its initial military success, awakened a superpower and launched a response that exceeded the calculations of the perpetrators of the attack. However, the accuracy of the attribution of this phrase to Yamamoto has not been proven historically, and it was especially famous through the movie “Tora! Tora! Tora!” Issued in 1970.
Jumblatt’s message was not limited to historical quotations, as he attached it to the painting “Et in Arcadia ego” by the Italian painter Guercino, which dates back to the beginning of the seventeenth century, and shows two shepherds contemplating a human skull, in a scene that symbolizes the inevitability of death even in the most peaceful and beautiful places. The Latin phrase carries the meaning that death is present even in paradise.
The combination of the military quote and artistic symbolism opens the door to a political reading of the post, as a warning against the consequences of provoking a major power or being drawn into a confrontation whose results may exceed the calculations of the parties that sparked it.
The message gains additional importance in light of the escalating tension between the United States and Iran, and fears that any military confrontation will expand to include Lebanon and the region, even though Jumblatt did not specify in his post the identity of the “sleeping giant,” nor the party he intended to hold responsible for awakening it.
Between the evocation of Pearl Harbor and the image of the skull, Jumblatt’s message seems closer to a veiled political warning about the consequences of miscalculation, while the most prominent question remains: Who is the giant that Jumblatt fears has awakened, and who will pay the price for his awakening?
