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There’s people dying for your petrol’: while Israel bombs Beirut, Lebanese Australians feel outrage and fear
Smart summary
When Dr Saad Ramadan’s elderly parents and five siblings fled their village in southern Lebanon under raining Israeli strikes for Beirut, he thought they were evacuating to safety. But safe has become “a relative word...
When Dr Saad Ramadan’s elderly parents and five siblings fled their village in southern Lebanon under raining Israeli strikes for Beirut, he thought they were evacuating to safety.
But safe has become “a relative word” these days, he says.
For the past month, his large family have been living in a tiny two-bedroom apartment after abandoning the home his parents had lived in for 80 years with nothing but documents and the clothing on their backs. You don’t really know when suddenly these buildings where civilians have been sheltering become ‘legitimate targets’,” Ramadan, who migrated to Australia in 1991, says.
“I don’t know if my family’s turn will come, but some entire civilian families have been wiped out, butchered in cold blood. Any loss of innocent life is a loss.” On Saturday, Ramadan was among thousands of protesters who rallied in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney pushing for the federal government to impose sanctions on Israel and mourning the loss of innocent lives in the Middle East. Alongside the Lebanese flags were Palestinian ones.
On Wednesday, Israel carried out its largest attack on Lebanon since its war with Hezbollah began, killing hundreds of people and wounding 837 as bombs rained down in densely populated residential areas of Beirut. It is now being called “Black Wednesday” by the Lebanese community.
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When Dr Saad Ramadan’s elderly parents and five siblings fled their village in southern Lebanon under raining Israeli strikes for Beirut, he thought they were evacuating to safety.
But safe has become “a relative word” these days, he says.
For the past month, his large family have been living in a tiny two-bedroom apartment after abandoning the home his parents had lived in for 80 years with nothing but documents and the clothing on their backs. You don’t really know when suddenly these buildings where civilians have been sheltering become ‘legitimate targets’,” Ramadan, who migrated to Australia in 1991, says.
“I don’t know if my family’s turn will come, but some entire civilian families have been wiped out, butchered in cold blood. Any loss of innocent life is a loss.” On Saturday, Ramadan was among thousands of protesters who rallied in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney pushing for the federal government to impose sanctions on Israel and mourning the loss of innocent lives in the Middle East. Alongside the Lebanese flags were Palestinian ones.
On Wednesday, Israel carried out its largest attack on Lebanon since its war with Hezbollah began, killing hundreds of people and wounding 837 as bombs rained down in densely populated residential areas of Beirut. It is now being called “Black Wednesday” by the Lebanese community.
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