From the Liveblog of
Sunday, July 28, 2024
In Majdal Shams, some demand ‘Lebanon burn’ for fatal rocket strike; others blame Israel
Cnaan Lidor is The Times of Israel's Jewish World reporter
Shaking his fist, Samir Halabi articulates the rage and thirst for revenge that is on the minds of many in Majdal Shams.
“Lebanon needs to burn. Nasrallah needs to burn!” Halabi, a 52-year-old radio show host from the Druze town in the Golan, cries out in Hebrew as journalists begin gathering in front of him and locals assemble behind.
“How can this be? We love you Bibi but you have to start acting up,” he says, referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by his nickname.
“Hit Majdal Shams and you’ve hit Odem, El-Rom, Tel Aviv! There is no difference, respond as if they murdered 12 kids in Tel Aviv!” he bellows as locals applaud.
Others express the same sentiment more calmly.
“In this part of the world, the response should be 10 times in magnitude,” says Zaki Amr, a local 29-year-old who is one of the first people who treated the 12 fatalities, all of them children, from a rocket that hit a soccer field yesterday evening in Majdal Shams.
Locals visit the soccer field where the victims were playing, following their funerals. Scooters and an ATV for children are scattered around the crater caused by the rocket, said by the IDF to be an Iranian-made Falaq-1.
But a third local, Nay Ibrahim, blames Israel for the strike, which killed her cousin Johnny and wounded her brother Ajun.
“I don’t think the rocket came from Lebanon. I think Israel sent it so we are also a part of their war,” she tells The Times of Israel.
