It feels like a ”kick in the guts” whenever someone changes their profile picture to support France, columnist for the Australian publication Daily Life Ruby Hamad said. Being the daughter of Lebanese and Syrian parents, Hamad felt the ignorance of what happened in Beirut, compared to the scope of the terror attacks in Paris. She, of course, mourns for Paris but states a demand to bring awareness on what Beirut has witnessed during the weekend.
Hamad is not alone in the state of feeling left out and overshadowed by what happened in France.
“The wholesale way the globe has united for #PrayForParis while ignoring Lebanon, when their tragedies occurred within 24 hours of each other, is a telltale signe of how little non-white lives matter,” Hamad wrote, referring to the attacks that happened on Thursday, November 12, as two suicide bombers blew themselves up, killing 43 people in a busy shopping street in Beirut.
“To see the colours of the French flag on the Opera House and other landmarks across the world, while the green of Lebanon’s cedar tree is conspicuously missing, to hear world leaders condemn what happened in Paris as a crime on ‘all of humanity’ while sweeping Lebanon’s grief under the carpet, is to be told over and over again: You are not one of us.”
The attacks killing 43 in Beirut and attacks killing more than 129 people in Paris have both been claimed by ISIS who take the responsibility for the terrorist attacks. Since the Lebanese civil war in 1990, this attack has been the deadliest in Beirut.
Countless monuments around the world lit up with the colors of the French flag, adding to the exclusionary feeling felt by Lebanon. The Pyramids in Giza were the only landmarks lit with not just the colors of France but also the colors of the Russian and Lebanese flags in support for the different countries.
Though social media has been overtaken by #PrayForParis and colors of the French flag, amongst others the U.S. Department of State expressed their sorrow for Beirut on Twitter this Thursday.
US strongly condemns today’s terrorist attack in #Beirut. We extend our deepest condolences to the Lebanese people. http://t.co/c2fTCQg6QU
— Department of State (@StateDept) 13. november 2015
The Beirut location of the suicide bombers has experienced similar attacks. The area is one of the headquarters of Hezbollah militants. Thursday’s attacks were the latest since 2014.
“This is a humanitarian thing, the same terrorism that kills Lebanese people, Iraqis and Syrians, killed the French.” Doja Daoud, a Lebanese journalist, told the Al Jazeera, encouraging the unity of the world to fight terrorism.
Image via Flickr/Lion Multimedia Production U.S.A., resized
