ISRAEL’s devastating bombing of Lebanon has reverberated around the world, reaching as far as the suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne.
In Sydney’s Bankstown neighbourhood and Coburg in Melbourne, where Australia’s vibrant Lebanese community is visible in the local shops, restaurants and places of worship, Israel’s latest war on Lebanon has ignited a new wave of trauma.
“I think 99 percent of the Lebanese in Australia still have family in Lebanon,” Michael Kheirallah, founder and chairman of the Victorian Lebanese Community Council, told Al Jazeera.
“That’s why the community are watching the news almost 24 hours,” he said.
“Some of them mentioned to me that they haven’t had sleep for almost two nights, especially when the bombing started happening in Beirut.”
Kheirallah said the images being transmitted from Lebanon by both news and social media were traumatising, as many community members had experienced civil war in their home country and the violence of previous Israeli invasions.
“I’m sure [the current attacks are] going to bring some bad memories. It’s very traumatising, especially now we’re living in a social media world,” he said.
While Lebanese people have been migrating to Australia since the 1800s, the Lebanese Civil War from 1975-1990 saw an influx, with many escaping the fighting which left about 150,000 dead and led a million people to leave the country.
Amid the turmoil, Israeli forces invaded and occupied southern Lebanon, first in 1978 and again in 1982, reaching as far as Beirut in the second invasion. That occupation would last until 2000 and is remembered for the Sabra and Shatila massacres in 1982, when the Israeli-allied Lebanese Forces – a Christian armed group – murdered more than 3,000 Palestinian civilians living in refugee camps in southern Beirut.
In 2006, Israel attacked again in response to the Hezbollah capturing of two Israeli soldiers and the killing of eight others, bombing Beirut and conducting a monthlong ground incursion which left more than 1,100 Lebanese civilians and Hezbollah fighters dead, and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
While not the largest migrant population – according to Australia’s 2021 census, about 250,000 Australians are of Lebanese heritage, with nearly 90,000 born in Lebanon – the community has planted deep roots in this nation of 26 million.
Lebanese who settled in Australia under refugee and humanitarian assistance programmes brought their culture and cuisine with them; freshly baked khobz (bread), deep-fried kibbie and sweet baklava have become mainstream Australian favourites.
Lebanese Australians have made their mark, too, including Bachar Houli – a star of the national sport, Australian rules football.
Both mosques and churches reflect the diversity of the Australian Lebanese community, and despite historical conflicts, Kheirallah told Al Jazeera “the community are united” as their homeland comes under attack once again.
