Behold Fabian Maamari, the Swedish-Lebanese whose Facebook pictures are causing a Lebanese frenzy.
4 days ago, Fabian posted a picture of him between two IDF soldiers with the very – err – sentimental? caption that you can check here.
To sum-up, Fabian met Avi – an Israeli – and the love of his life as he calls him, when he visited Israel last year during Tel Aviv’s yearly Pride parade. He then decided to move to Israel and stay there.
Recently, Fabian went on a vacation to the Israeli side of the Dead Sea where he saw two IDF soldiers roaming around. So because he was “experimental” he came up to them and waited until they made contact. He then made sure they knew he was Lebanese because he wanted to shock them.
Those IDF soldiers turned out to have served in Lebanon during the period of Israeli occupation of the South, and maybe even during the July 2006 war. Therefore, Fabian’s knee-jerk reaction was to have all his fears dissolve because the IDF soldiers thought Lebanon was “a beautiful country.”
They were then invited to dinner where Fabian told them the story of how he met his husband, and things quickly turned into sunshine and butterflies and how we should never judge people before we meet them and that Israelis can be nice people too.
Israelis can be good people, sure. I mean, they are just people, and people can be good or bad. Fair enough, a soldier killing a Lebanese does not make all people of that country bad. But it does put a huge question mark on the country that ordered the killing, especially when the death tally on our side is of lives shattered and ruined. Meeting adorable Israelis does not mean foregoing the struggles of Lebanese people with them. It doesn’t mean brushing aside their horrors just because it’s “cool.”
By the same token, there are a lot of bad Lebanese people that make me ashamed of holding the same nationality. A recent example that comes to mind is those employees who beat up two African women just because they were, well, African (link), or how many of us are treating the Syrian refugees.
But this isn’t about giving every single Israeli the benefit of the doubt for being Israeli, Fabian Maamari wants us to give their entire country the benefit of the doubt, and with that I have a problem.
This is not, unlike how some Lebanese media portrayed it, about Fabian Maamari being gay, and being a Lebanese man in love with an Israeli man. This is far from it. Maamari can love whoever he wants, and sleep with whoever he wants, Israeli or otherwise, and I couldn’t care less.
This is also not similar to when Miss Lebanon found herself in a selfie with Miss Israel (link) or when the recurrent debate about how to best handle Israeli presence at international events takes place.
I feel like a few reminders are in order for Mr. Maamari, who entered Israel with his Swedish passport, and who has absolutely no reason to be “afraid” when he’s there as a European Union nationalist, not as Lebanese.
These are a few pictures from the recent July War, where Israel killed over 1500 civilians of your country including more than 300 women and children:
And this is the love they gave us then:
And these are pictures of the 1996 Qana Massacre where Israel shelled a UN compound filled with children, killing 106.
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- Fijian UN soldiers evacuate 18 April 1996 the remains of dead Lebanese refugee burned in the shelling of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) compound in Qana by Israeli shelling 18 April 1996. Israeli forces pummeled a compound of UNIFIL housing Fijian forces and sheltering hundreds of civilians. 105 civilians were killed who had taken refuge there during Israel’s “Grapes of Wrath” offensive – also aimed at wiping out Hezbollah. World-wide condemnation was immediate and calls for an end to the fighting intensified, with Israel and Hezbollah agreeing to a ceasefire eight days later on April 26. AFP PHOTO JOSEPH BARRAK (Photo credit should read JOSEPH BARRAK/AFP/Getty Images)
Where was the love back then?
For every picture that you are posting, Mr. Maamari, of your Israeli adventure, there’s one to parallel it in horrors of what that country has caused us.
For every “awww” moment you’re experiencing when you meet an Israeli who happens to be nice, and you get the shock of his life that they can be nice when you’re dating one of them (I don’t get it?), there’s a Palestinian child drawing his last breath. Have you heard about the recent settler arson that took an infant’s life?
Either way, I see that you noticed how Palestine is separated from you by a wall, but you seem not to have an issue with it:
A picture taken by Fabian, off his blog.
Fabian’s reply to those who reminded him of Israel’s atrocities in Lebanon is that he does not entertain blind hate. Yes, because the history of how your other country got killed, decimated, and targeted is blind.
Your people, that is if they are your people, are not filled with hate; they are filled with memories, most of which you lack. The wars you’ve “heard” about, some of us lived first hand (link). Those IDF soldiers you had dinner with probably killed a father or a mother or a child of someone that we may know. That country you’re falling in love with actively killed us and occupied our land for years.
Fabian Maamari, you are allowed to sleep with as many Israelis as you want. You are allowed to fall in love with as many Israelis as you want, and by all means have dinner with as many IDF soldiers as you want. You are allowed to be happy you went viral for your “boundaries-transcending” love affair as much as you want. But there’s a limit to how love-struck you can be.
A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares 
Ur just jealous you dont have a foreign passport 🙂
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Of course I’m jealous I don’t have a foreign passport, is that even a revelation?
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I have a dual nationality, through my bloodline, yet in no way would i even “think” of betraying any of my countries in any way.
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I have a problem with him being a douchebag who is happy to be a tool for pinkwash israeli crimes. StandWithUs? Really? Dear fabian, you are not a special snowflake and we could all be best friends with Israelis on a personal level. We have more in common with Israeli people than gulf or north african arabs but as long as Israel is committing war crimes, we stand with the international community.
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Great post, very tolerant yet very firm. cheers
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Couldn’t care less about him being Gay or him going out with an Israeli, as you said. He’s clearly a self-centered moron desperate for attention. Fabian even celebrated ‘Stand With Us’ on his website, a fascist Zionist organization which portrays Palestinians as savages (add that to the post Elie http://finest.se/FabianMaamari).
Given what Israel did to Lebanon for so long and what Israel has been doing and is still doing to Palestine, Fabian’s posts can only be described as perverse.
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Yeah, as you are a “Moderate”. Your rants on AlMonitor against Israel only, are notorious. A real supporter of freedom… only when it suits to you..
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Honestly, this time i completely miss your point. What do you expect from him, exactly?That he joins BDS in Tlv? That he spends time there waging a palestinian flag? This post clearly betrays your utter lack of knowledge of that country. And all this hysteria proves that he pissed all of you off. That was exactly his purpose.
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Puzzled? It is that complicated for you? Seems you’re just as idiot as that Maamari boy is, or worse.
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Are you able to substain a normal conversation? Or do you prefer the low level arabist rant? Because, frankly speaking, I am not interested at all in getting involved in the second one. Yeah, it’s evident that this guy piss Lebanese off. He must be quite effective..
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Oh I am very well able to sustain a higher than normal conversation if you so will. Let’s really hear what is so baffling that you had to choose the nickname P/puzzled. What offense have you taken from this blog post?
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What do you want from me, exactly? I have never questioned you…
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Nothing, just go love your Israel now. Bye.
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Yeah, typical souk style reply. Adieux
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Israel wannabe state is hypocrite.
I quote:
“””
The horror is that Jewish activist groups in the West have spearheaded the move for immigration and multiculturalism as models for Western societies while at the same time supporting Israel’s xenophobic nationalism.
“””
Abraham Kook the Chief Rabbi of Palestine from 1920-1935 stated “the difference between Jewish souls and non-Jewish souls — all of them, in all different levels — is greater than the difference between a human soul and the souls of cattle”
What I see here is just an expression of this hypocrisy, giving the impression of being open while in reality they aren’t. It’s like going to a store and buying the prettiest thing because the box looked good but once you open it you know that it wasn’t worth the investment.
In 2015 we should stand up against ideologies that are infectious to humankind even if it means standing up against old religious beliefs. Zionism being one of those movements.
But even with the ever growing social media it’s hard to change people’s minds, especially when they are brainwashed by so many other means.
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Elie, while I quite often find myself agreeing with you on many topics, which is impressive in itself, I totally and completely disagree with you here.
I don’t think Maamari is ignoring what Israel has done in Lebanon. Actually, I don’t think its relevant whether he is or isn’t, whatever’s going on inside his head. The bottom line is that he is willing to move past that.
Your post ignores the fact that it takes two to tango, and Israel didn’t go to war against itself. There was another side. In 1982 it was the Palestinian terrorist groups that were launching attacks against Israeli civilians in the Galilee and your country’s army did nothing to stop them. In 2006 it was Hizballah which took the first step, an organization that has members in your defunct parliament and which is currently waging war in your name in Syria, beside Bahsar Assad’s forces.
To look only at what Israel did to Lebanon, without looking at what Lebanon did to Israel gives you a skewed picture. For instance, you forgot to mention the tunnels that Hizballah is digging under the border in order to invade Israel in the next war. You also forgot to mention the tens of thousands of rockets Hizballah has currently aimed at my country. They are YOUR rockets. I’m not saying that Israel hasn’t done terrible things to the Lebanese or that it hasn’t made mistakes. I’m saying that both sides have, and that Ma’amari is looking past that. Can you?
It’s all well and nice to agree that there are good and bad people on both sides. It’s even better if we can agree that the good outweighs the bad. But that’s obviously not enough. Ma’amari is taking the first step for himself. I think he deserves more credit than you give him.
It saddens me that while his post went viral in both countries, it was for two separate reasons…
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Israel is occupying Palestine and that’s all that matters. Every attempt at resistance, whether violent or not, justified or not, is but the consequence of this occupation. There is no one to blame for this mess but Israel.
Years of occupation and injustice don’t breed peaceful Israeli-loving citizens.
You reap what you sow.
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This is a post about relations of Lebanese and Israelis, not Palestinians and Israelis. Lebanon is allowed to follow its own interests instead of being hostage to the Palestinian issue.
But since you already brought it up, Bob, let’s discuss the Palestinians.
In 1929 when Palestinian Arabs massacred Palestinian Jews in Hebron (Al-Halil in Arabic), where our mutual ancestors are buried, what occupation were they resisting?
In 1936 when Palestinian Arabs massacred Palestinian Jews, throughout the British mandate of Palestine, who’s occupation were they resisting?
In 1947-1948 when Palestinian Arabs declared they would finish what Hitler started and along with all the neighboring Arab countries declared war on 600,000 Jews in the newly founded Israel, in the territory suggested by the UN in the partition plan, what occupation were they resisting?
In 1967 when Syria, Egypt and Jordan ganged up on Israel to once again attempt to wipe us out, what occupation exactly were they resisting?
Judea and Samaria, aka the West Bank were illegally occupied by Jordan for 19 years before Israel came along. Why didn’t the Palestinians resist that occupation?
Or are you of the school of thought that thinks that only some nations have the right to self determination, and that only some countries have the right to exist, and that Israel and the Jews aren’t one of them?
The so-called occupation has nothing to do with the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It has everything to do with the fact that the Arab world can’t bear to have a country that isn’t Arab or Muslim among them, especially on land that for a period in history was part of their domain. It hurts their pride. It doesn’t matter if 99% of the land in Israel was purchased legally by Jews. We’re a constant reminder of the Arab world’s shortcomings, because in 67 years we’ve accomplished more than any of our neighbors did in the same period of time, with far less resources. And the worst part is that we’re a democracy, and its easier for Arab leaders to teach their people to hate us so that their too busy to notice how disadvantaged they are living under their own dictatorships. Take Mahmud Abbas, the Palestinian president for instance, who’s term as president ended 8 years ago, but for some reason he’s still in office.
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When did this occupation started?
before 1948? when the jews declared statehood?
before 1929 – with the killing of the jews of hebreon and in jerusalem?
in 1964 – the creation of the PLO? or in 1967 – after the six day war?
Now, who exactly was the prime minister of Palestine in 1966, before the israelis occupied the west bank?
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This is a slap in the face of all the innocent children who were killed by Israeli bombs.
There are no good Israelis. Israeli settlements were built on the rubble of Palestinian homes. A good Israeli would have revoked his paspport long time ago.
Now you like Israeli meat, fine. Not everyone is born with good taste. But don’t try to to act like the peacemaker to give more meaning to your bedroom antics.
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Bob, this is a bullshit claim. By your logic, there are no good Arabs or Muslims, because Arabs and Muslims are murdering people by the thousands every week, on a scale which makes the entire 67 years of Israel’s existence look insignificant. The numbers don’t lie. According to you, a good Muslim would convert, a good Syrian, or Palestinian, or Sudanese, or Yemenite, or Lebanese, or Iranian, or Iraqi, or Afghan would have revoked his passport long ago.
You have either been duped by false anti-Israel propaganda, or you’re part of who’s making this stuff up.
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