Ali Dabaja says Lebanese-Americans have struggled for 12 months to balance “work, life and genocide” as tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.
But today, as the Israeli army unleashed its firepower on Lebanon last week, the community is at a “boiling point.”
Israel’s large-scale bombing campaign in Lebanon has hit close to home for Dabaja, a Detroit-area doctor. Her cousin, Batoul Dabaja-Saad, was killed along with her husband and three children in an Israeli airstrike on their home in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil.
“There is disbelief. There is anger and a sense of loss – a huge loss,” Dabaja told Tel Aviv Tribune.
He’s not alone: As Lebanon’s war intensifies, Lebanese Americans say they feel anxiety and grief for loved ones back home — and outrage at their own government American who continues to arm and support Israel.
“Our thoughts are always with the people of Palestine and Lebanon, and now it is a different phase for us,” Dabaja told Tel Aviv Tribune.
“We screamed and screamed at the top of our lungs. We hired politicians. We engaged our country, engaged the people who are running for president. And it all kind of fell on deaf ears. And at this point, it becomes very personal for us.
Israeli attacks
Israel began bombing villages in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday, leaving entire communities in ruins and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.
Although the extent of the damage remains uncertain as much of the south of the country has become a no-man’s land, it appears that Israel is carrying out the same widespread destruction that the world has seen inflicted on Gaza.
In village after village, videos and eyewitness accounts convey images of destroyed buildings and roads covered in rubble.
While Israeli officials have said the army was targeting homes used to store weapons used by the Lebanese group Hezbollah to attack Israel, critics say the scale of the bombings shows the indiscriminate nature of the bombing.
More than 620 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in four days, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
As with the more than 41,500 Palestinians killed in Gaza since October last year, the victims in Lebanon are not just numbers, Dabaja said: Each person had stories, dreams and social connections that go far beyond the borders of the country.
He described his cousin Batoul, who worked two jobs to help support his family, as charismatic, educated, sociable and diligent.
“She had a light that was unlike any other person. This light has gone out, just like that of so many others who lost their lives in this tragic and indiscriminate bombing,” Dabaja said.
While mourning his cousin, Dabaja also said he feared for the safety of other relatives who were displaced.
“It’s like being in a nightmare.”
Many Lebanese-Americans woke up Monday to messages and calls from family members seeking refuge from Israeli bombing.
Suehaila Amen, a Michigan community activist who is hosting a Lebanese international student, said she received a call from the student’s mother, who was fleeing her village near the southern city of Tyre.
“She told me, ‘My daughter is with you, if anything happens to us, please take care of her.’ This is what I woke up to. I didn’t understand what was happening,” Amen told Tel Aviv Tribune.
She described her deep sadness at the widespread killings and destruction, as well as her concern for her friends and relatives in Lebanon who were forced to leave their homes.
“It’s like being in a nightmare and seeing these killers continue to have carte blanche to massacre innocent people without any reprimand or attention,” Amen said.
His story was echoed by other Lebanese-Americans who watched from afar as their homeland was decimated.
Samia Hamid, a mother of five from Michigan, said the pain is felt in her close-knit Lebanese-American community in the Detroit suburbs of Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, where thousands of residents are originating from southern Lebanon.
“Everyone is nervous. Everyone struggles with tingling. Everyone is scared,” she said. “Where will they strike next?”
Sanaa, a Michigan woman who asked to be identified only by her first name for fear of retaliation against her or her family, said she has barely slept since Monday.
She has two brothers currently in Lebanon, and her family had to flee the south of the country to the capital Beirut despite the risk of being bombed on the road, as Israel targeted several vehicles in recent days, including ambulances.
While Israel has focused most of its air raids on the southern and eastern regions of Lebanon, it has expanded its bombing to other areas, including places without Hezbollah’s political or military presence.
Sanaa said she feared that soon nowhere would be safer and that her family would face even greater dangers.
“The bombings continue everywhere. And eventually, they will run out of places to go – the same way it happened in Gaza,” she told Tel Aviv Tribune.
American role
One of Sanaa’s siblings in Lebanon is an American citizen. She said he contacted the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, but was told there was “nothing they could do” to help him other than advising him to stay safe.
While the Lebanese capital’s international airport is still operational, most airlines have canceled flights to and from the country, leaving many dual and foreign nationals stranded.
The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to Tel Aviv Tribune’s request for comment on how the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon is assisting U.S. citizens in that country.
The Pentagon announced the sending of additional troops to the Middle East in the context of hostilities in Lebanon. However, no plans to evacuate American citizens have been publicly announced, amid a fierce Israeli bombing campaign.
Meanwhile, the United States is pushing for a temporary ceasefire in Lebanon that Washington says would allow diplomacy to resolve the crisis.
This effort was openly rejected by Israeli leaders, but despite this, Washington has maintained its military support for Israel, providing most of the bombs, jets and drones that have wreaked havoc in Gaza – and now Lebanon.
Experts have blasted US President Joe Biden’s administration for refusing to meaningfully pressure Israel against further escalation in Lebanon.
Israel’s army chief said Wednesday that the army was preparing for a ground invasion of the country. And as the death toll rose Thursday, the Israeli Defense Ministry announced that it had secured $8.7 billion in military aid from the U.S. administration.
Many Lebanese-Americans view Biden and his aides — including Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate in November’s presidential election — as directly responsible for the carnage in their country.
“I hope to God that people remember this on Election Day — because this is all happening under the Biden administration, and Harris is a part of it,” Hamid said.
“Same tactics” as in Gaza
Harris pledged to continue sending arms to Israel without restrictions despite the US ally’s well-documented abuses in Gaza and Lebanon, rebuffing calls from progressives for an arms embargo on the country .
Amen, the activist, said the war in Lebanon would further alienate Arab and Muslim voters from the Harris campaign and hurt the Democratic Party’s electoral chances, particularly in the swing state of Michigan.
According to U.S. Census figures, the United States is home to approximately 700,000 Americans of Lebanese descent, 82,000 of whom live in Michigan.
But community advocates say the data significantly underestimates Arab Americans because of the lack of a specific “Arab” or “Middle East and North Africa” identifier on the census form.
Amen said Harris will face the wrath of Michigan’s Lebanese and broader Arab community next November.
“Kamala Harris has no soul. She is evil, and she is no better than those she protects and helps,” Amen said, referring to the Israeli government.
U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, whose district includes Dearborn, also criticized the Biden administration this week for its unwavering support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government amid attacks on Lebanon.
“After encountering no red lines in Gaza, in an attempt to remain in power, Netanyahu is now expanding his genocidal campaign to Lebanon, using the same tactics that the Biden-Harris administration has endorsed,” Tlaib said in a statement. press release.
Regroup
Yet in the face of such widespread disappointment and pain, Lebanese-American advocates say their community is coming together and trying to push for change.
Across the United States, Lebanese and broader Arab communities are holding protests, raising money for Lebanon relief efforts and calling on politicians to denounce the Israeli offensive.
Mike Ayoub, a Detroit-area real estate agent, said many Lebanese Americans are even opening their homes in Lebanon to shelter displaced people.
“The Lebanese community is suffering enormously, but they are mobilizing. They say, “Enough is enough.” And I think more than ever, I’m starting to see us (getting) more involved politically,” Ayoub told Tel Aviv Tribune.
Dabaja, whose cousin was killed in an Israeli attack, also stressed that Lebanese-Americans are not helpless. Instead, the suffering in Lebanon will push them to continue demanding an end to unconditional U.S. support for Israel, he said.
“We can still do a lot of things,” Dabaja said. “Yes, I can’t protect people now, but in the future we always have…the ability to change things where we are because we have that privilege.”
Amen echoed this, saying she was inspired by the strength of her friends and family in Lebanon, who were not broken by displacement and grief.
“They are more resilient than us. They are braver than us,” she told Tel Aviv Tribune.
“While I’m in panic mode, they say, ‘This is our qadar (fate). Whatever God wants, we are ready for it. Their faith and resilience invigorate mine.