French-Lebanese director accused of 'normalising' relations with Israel through art

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by AP - Lebanese film director Ziad Doueiri, who was detained briefly for previous visits to Israel, lashed back against critics who accused him of normalisation with the Jewish state. He said on Monday that his work is for the good of Lebanon and the Palestinian cause. It was not clear why the Paris-based Doueiri, director of the award-winning civil war film "West Beirut," was detained Sunday night, as he has visited Lebanon several times since traveling to Israel. Lebanon and Israel are in a state of war and Beirut bans its citizens from visiting Israel or having business dealings with Israelis.

Doueiri told reporters after three hours of questioning at a military court in Beirut Monday that authorities found that he has "no criminal intentions against the Palestinian cause." Doueiri's latest film, "The Insult," opens in Lebanon this week, after winning the best actor award at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month. Doueiri said that Kamel El Basha, the Palestinian awarded best actor at the Venice Film Festival, spent two years in Israeli jails. He said some journalists are trying to undermine him ahead of the film showing in Beirut, which begins on Thursday. Doueiri's previous film, "The Attack," was banned in Lebanon and most Arab countries. The movie is about a Palestinian surgeon living in Tel Aviv who discovers that a suicide attack in the city that killed 17 people was carried out by his wife. The movie was filmed in Israel and featured several Israeli actors.

Lebanese journalist Pierre Abi Saab, who is opposed to any dealings with Israel, wrote a column in the daily Al-Akhbar last week titled "Ziad Doeiri, apologize for your Israeli slip." He said that Doueiri spent months in Israel to film "The Attack," spending money there and speaking to Israeli media defending his movie amid criticism in Lebanon. "Today, Ziad Doueiri is coming on a white horse from Venice with a new movie expecting us to carry him on our shoulders and welcome him as a conqueror," Abi Saab wrote. "We will not accept that the crime be covered," he wrote, referring to Doueiri's visits to Israel. Speaking to reporters outside the military court, Doueiri said he was well treated by Lebanese security agencies during his brief detention but blasted journalists he refused to name "that are fabricating things to block the new movie." He said they used "dirty words against some people and accused them of being Zionists." "My mother breastfed me Palestinian milk and the Palestinian cause. Members of my family were killed while fighting with the Palestinians," Doueiri said.

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Lebanon to complain to UN over Israel violating airspace

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By middleeastmonitor.com Lebanon will file a complaint to the United Nations against Israel for violating the country’s airspace and causing damage by breaking the sound barrier in the south of the country, its foreign minister said today. Israeli jets flew low over the southern city of Saida yesterday, causing sonic booms that broke windows and shook buildings for the first time in years, Lebanese security sources and residents said. “We have started preparing to file a complaint to the [UN] Security Council against Israel for flying its planes at low altitude… causing material, moral and sovereign damage,” Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil said in a tweet. Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri said Lebanon would issue its complaint “against Israel for planting spy devices on Lebanese land and continously breaching” its airspace, his office said. Israeli warplanes regularly enter Lebanon’s airspace, the Lebanese army says, but rarely fly so low. The Israeli military gave no immediate comment. Tensions have risen recently between Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Israel, which fought a month-long war in 2006. The 2006 war killed around 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, most of them troops. Israel has targeted Iran-backed Hezbollah inside Syria in recent years, including military leaders in several deadly strikes, but there has been no major direct confrontation.

Lebanon to complain to UN over Israel violating airspace

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By middleeastmonitor.com Lebanon will file a complaint to the United Nations against Israel for violating the country’s airspace and causing damage by breaking the sound barrier in the south of the country, its foreign minister said today. Israeli jets flew low over the southern city of Saida yesterday, causing sonic booms that broke windows and shook buildings for the first time in years, Lebanese security sources and residents said. “We have started preparing to file a complaint to the [UN] Security Council against Israel for flying its planes at low altitude… causing material, moral and sovereign damage,” Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil said in a tweet. Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri said Lebanon would issue its complaint “against Israel for planting spy devices on Lebanese land and continously breaching” its airspace, his office said. Israeli warplanes regularly enter Lebanon’s airspace, the Lebanese army says, but rarely fly so low. The Israeli military gave no immediate comment. Tensions have risen recently between Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Israel, which fought a month-long war in 2006. The 2006 war killed around 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, most of them troops. Israel has targeted Iran-backed Hezbollah inside Syria in recent years, including military leaders in several deadly strikes, but there has been no major direct confrontation.

In Land of Many Rivalries, New One Bubbles Up: Falafel vs. Falafel

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BEIRUT, Lebanon — “Falafel Sahyoun” reads the awning of one storefront. “Falafel Sahyoun” reads the awning of the other. They’re right next to each other. Only a wall separates the two. And little sets them apart. Both have bright tube lights, mirrors on the walls, falafel balls bubbling in oil. And on both counters sit stacks of bread, plus shiny steel bowls of radish, parsley and a sauce of pounded sesame, known as tarator.

The menus are even identical. Regular sandwich. Sandwich extra. Falafel dozen. Small tarator. Large tarator. Soft drinks. Yogurt.

But the rivalry runs deep. It is a rivalry as old as any in this part of the world: Brother against brother, falafel against falafel. “My brother? I want him to stay away from me,” says Zuheir Sahyoun, the elder of the Falafel Sahyoun brothers, his chef’s shirt opened midway to his belly, on a steamy afternoon.“I don’t have a brother anymore,” says Fuad Sahyoun, the younger, next door.  Once, there was only one Falafel Sahyoun. It was established by their father, Mustapha Sahyoun, on Damascus Street, just above downtown. Falafel was considered a working man’s lunch, and Falafel Sahyoun catered to everyone.

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Lebanon holds state funeral for slain soldiers

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by Associated Press - Lebanon has held a state funeral for 10 of its soldiers captured and killed by the Islamic State group. President Michel Aoun presided over Friday's ceremony in honor of the soldiers held at the Defense Ministry near Beirut. The bodies of the soldiers were recovered late last month following an army offensive to wipe out hundreds of IS militants who were occupying parts of the Lebanese-Syria border region since 2014.

by Daily Star Lebanon - Army Commander Maj. Gen. Joseph Aoun gave the opening speech at the ceremony, where he mourned the death of the servicemen. “We are gathered here today on this emotional occasion that is filled with great sacrifices offered by the sons of the military institution who declared their complete readiness to defend the country and to martyr for its sake the minute they were abducted by the hands of brutal terrorists,” Gen. Aoun said. “Our joy in the victory over terrorism remains sorrowful for we were hoping that we manage to free you unharmed from the hands of the terrorism so that you may return to your Army and families in order to participate with us in this historic achievement,” Gen. Aoun continued. President Michel Aoun also gave a speech to the crowds at the Defense Ministry, in which he lamented the death of the soldiers. "The feelings of pain and sadness are mixed with pride and honor, and our martyrs in their lives have been a source of pride and honor for their families,” Aoun said. Aoun, Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Speaker Nabih Berri arrived at the state funeral at around 10 a.m. Also in attendance were the families of the soldiers, United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon force commander Maj. Gen. Michael Beary, Internal Security Forces Director-General Maj. Gen. Imad Othman and Defense Minister Yaacoub Sarraf. Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk was not seen at the event. Coffins carrying the remains of the abducted soldiers slain by Daesh (ISIS) were transported from the Army Hospital in Badaro to the Defense Ministry. “Today our martyrs will be honored and we will all be given ... heroes of Lebanon, but our souls will not rest until the truth is revealed and justice is achieved,” Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil tweeted earlier. “On the day of the martyrs' farewell, we hope that their blood will yield national immunity and that the political decision will rise to the level of sacrifice,” Minister of State for Administrative Development Inaya Ezzeddine said on his official Twitter account. The bodies of 10 servicemen who were killed in the aftermath of the Arsal clashes were retrieved last month. Eight of the soldiers were held hostage by Daesh and later killed by the group. A ninth soldier was executed in a separate incident, and a tenth soldier was killed by Jabhat Fatah al-Sham – formerly known as the Nusra Front - when they attacked an Army patrol in the outskirts of Arsal between 2014 and 2017. The 10 soldiers honored Friday were identified as Ibrahim Mgheit, Ali Masri, Mustafa Wehbe, Seif Ziblen, Mohammad Youssef, Khaled Hasan, Hussein Ammar, Ali Hajj Hasan, Abbas Medlej and Yehya Ali Khoder. Friday was declared a national day of mourning with government departments, banks, schools and businesses closing as a sign of respect. Embassies and foreign officials also gave statements mourning the loss of the servicemen and offering their support for Lebanon. "Italians are close to the Lebanese people in this day of mourning. Long live #Lebanon, long live the #LAF," the Italian Embassy said on Twitter. “The U.S. Embassy Beirut extends its deepest condolences to the people of Lebanon, particularly the families of the fallen [Lebanese Army] soldiers, kidnapped by [Daesh], in August 2014,” the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. “We also offer our sincere condolences for the soldiers who were killed in the line of duty during the ‘Fajr al-Jouroud’ operation.” The British Embassy in Lebanon marked the state funeral for the 10 servicemen Friday by lowering their flags to half-mast. British Ambassador to Lebanon Hugo Shorter said that “our thoughts will be with those who have lost loved ones as the country observes a day of national mourning.” “Our prayers are with the families, the Army & the whole country today. They paid the highest price for our freedom. We will remember them,” British diplomat Tom Hartley said via Twitter Friday.

Ziad Doueiri’s new film The Insult is a metaphor for the fault lines that scar Lebanon

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by Stephen Applebaum- the national,ae

Words can hurt and words can heal. In the Leb­a­nese ­film­maker Ziad Doueiri’s thrill­ing new court­room dra­ma, The ­In­sult, they do both. The film grew out of a real in­ci­dent three years ago in­volv­ing Doueiri, what he calls his “hurt­ful mouth”. It digs into the sect­ar­ian re­li­gious and po­lit­i­cal fault lines that still exist in Leb­a­non, al­most 30 years af­ter the end of the coun­try’s bloody civ­il war. Talk­ing last week dur­ing the Ven­ice Film Fes­ti­val, where The In­sult is com­pet­ing for the Gold­en Lion, Doueiri re­calls wat­ering plants on a bal­cony in Bei­rut when some­one swore at him from the street be­low. “I leaned over the bal­cony and said, ‘Why are you in­sulting me?’ and he said, ‘Be­cause your wa­ter’s fall­ing on me.’ I no­ticed from his ac­cent that he was Pal­es­tin­ian and I said what you should nev­er say to a Pal­es­tin­ian … I wanted to hurt him as much as pos­sible, and I suc­ceed­ed.”

Doueiri apolo­gised – “He couldn’t even look me in the eye. He was very, very hurt”. In the film, his words (unprintable here) are spat out by Toni (Adel Karam), a Leb­a­nese right-wing Chris­tian car mech­an­ic, to­wards Yas­ser (Ka­mel El Ba­sha), a Pal­es­tin­ian con­struc­tion work­er who fixed his il­le­gal wa­ter pipe, af­ter the Pal­es­tin­ian re­fuses to apo­lo­gise for in­sulting him. There fol­lows an escal­at­ing ar­gu­ment that be­gins ver­bal­ly, then turns phys­ic­al­ly vi­o­lent and ends up in court as a case that grips the pub­lic, ex­plo­sive­ly split­ting opin­ion along lines that ­ex­pose the sim­mering ten­sions in Leb­a­nese so­ci­ety. “In the Mid­dle East, you know how we are,” says Doueiri. “We are like a pow­der-keg, waiting for a small spark.” The film­maker and his co-writ­er, Joelle Touma, were go­ing through a di­vorce while writ­ing the film, which no doubt helped give a sharp­ness and en­ergy to the con­fron­ta­tions be­tween the characters Toni and Yas­ser, and be­tween their re­spect­ive law­yers. The In­sult doesn’t take sides, though, and like their pre­vi­ous film, The At­tack, a­bout the fall-out from a sui­cide bombing in Tel Aviv, it shows great em­pathy by ac­knowl­edg­ing the hurt and trau­ma that un­der­lie its an­tag­o­nists. This is im­pres­sive giv­en Doueiri’s back­ground.

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