Hundreds gather for a rally in support of Lebanon in light of recent Israeli strikes that killed hundreds, on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024 in front of the Henry Ford Centennial Library in Dearborn. (Katy Kildee/The Detroit News)
Dearborn (Tribune News Service) — Hundreds of Lebanese flags waved and voices shouted support for Lebanon and Palestine during a rally Wednesday in Dearborn amid escalating conflict in the Middle East.
Speakers at the Veterans Park War Memorial outside the Henry Ford Centennial Library on Michigan Avenue criticized the Israeli army for what they said were attacks against not just military targets but civilians, including children.
Speakers were sharply critical of the Biden administration, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris as well as the Republican candidate, Donald Trump, for their support for Israel.
“Biden, Harris and Trump — no difference,” said Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News who led the event.
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud took specific aim at what he perceived to be the hypocrisy of Democrats. “You want to expand access to health care,” he said. “Then why is it that you uplift and condone the bombing of every health care facility from Gaza to Beirut?”
The rally took place as thousands of people in southern Lebanon sought refuge following a two-day aerial barrage that left more than 600 people dead, the Associated Press reported Wednesday. As part of the shelling, the Israeli military said it killed Tuesday a top commander of Hezbollah, a militant group backed by Iran. Israel has said it has mounted the attacks to undercut Hezbollah.
Families that fled southern Lebanon flocked to Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon, sleeping in schools turned into shelters, as well as in cars and parks, and along the beach, the AP reported. Some sought to leave the country, causing a traffic jam at the border with Syria.
At the rally, Wayne County Commissioner Sam Baydoun said he spoke with his family, including his 88-year-old father, in Beirut by phone earlier in the day, and he fears for their safety.
“During my childhood, I lived through the Israeli invasion of 1978,” he said. “I witnessed the F-15s terrorize the civilian population. I know all too well what the people of south Lebanon and Beirut are going through right now and it puts me at a loss for words.”
In 1978, Israel invaded and occupied southern Lebanon after Palestine Liberation Organization militants entered Israel Israel from Lebanon by sea,” the Israeli military said, and attacked a bus, killing 35 people. The United Nations coordinated an Israeli withdrawal.
The militant group Hezbollah was founded in 1982 after Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon. Israel has said its objective is to secure its northern border so that tens of thousands of people who fled under Hezbollah fire nearly a year ago can return to their homes, the AP said. Israel said it hit only military targets, but some fleeing the area say Israel was targeting and attacking citizens.
But many in Lebanon fear Israel’s military operations there would follow the same Gaza playbook: Evacuation orders, mass displacement and overwhelming, deadly airstrikes it says target weapons, according to the AP. Israel has so far largely targeted the militant group. But in Lebanon, fear and anxiety prevail.
Israel Defense Force military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters Israel aims to keep its operations “as short as possible, that’s why we’re attacking with great force. At the same time, we must be prepared for it to take longer.”
David Kurzmann, senior director of community affairs for the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, declined to comment before and after the rally, saying it would be inappropriate with local residents showing support for their community.
Wednesday’s rally drew many residents from in and around Dearborn, including Lebanese Americans like Tyser Charara. Many Dearborn and Dearborn-area residents hail from Lebanese immigrant families.
“Dearborn is Lebanon,” he said. “When they hurt in Lebanon, we feel it in Dearborn.”
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