Ever wondered what it feels like to be a journalist in Lebanon?

Recently, I saw a MEMRI transcript of a video from Dima Sadek, a (Shia) Lebanese journalist and Palestine supporter who’s become Insta famous. So I have.

Disclaimer: I laugh whenever my Lebanese, Syrian, Cypriot, Turkish, and Egyptian neighbors feign interest in Palestine while really just emphasizing which group to blame. It reeks of coercion. They clearly have a rifle and Quran pointed at their heads.

Before I get to Sadek, here’s a summary of Lebanon’s apartheid laws via ChatGPT:

Lebanon's legal framework is rife with discriminatory laws, particularly against Palestinians. Palestinians in Lebanon are barred from working in over 60 professions, including law, medicine, and engineering. These restrictions prevent them from joining professional syndicates, which are essential for practicing these professions. Additionally, Palestinians face significant barriers in obtaining work permits, which further limits their employment opportunities. Even when they can work, they often receive lower wages and face job insecurity due to their legal status. This systemic discrimination traps many Palestinians in a cycle of poverty and marginalization, as they are unable to secure stable, well-paying jobs despite their qualifications and willingness to work​ (Human Rights Watch)​​ (Human Rights Watch)​​ (AIJAC)​.

Property rights for Palestinians in Lebanon are also severely restricted. Under Law 296 of 2001, Palestinians are prohibited from owning or inheriting property. This law not only prevents them from buying real estate but also complicates inheritance processes, leaving many families without legal ownership of their homes. These restrictions extend to accessing public services as well. Palestinians are largely excluded from Lebanon's National Social Security Fund and have limited access to public healthcare and education services. These legal and social barriers highlight the extent of institutional discrimination Palestinians face in Lebanon, exacerbating their socio-economic vulnerabilities and limiting their ability to integrate into Lebanese society​ (Human Rights Watch)​​ (Human Rights Watch)​​ (AIJAC)​.

Lebanon does all it can to perpetuate Arab/Palestinian suffering, not limited to refusing naturalization of third-gen Arabs in Lebanon. Who can blame them? As Sadek points out in the transcript below, the (once Christian) state was destroyed by Hezbollah, aka the “Party of Allah,” a Shia Islamist paramilitary group.

Lebanon once had 20K+ Jews. That makes sense when you consider that the name Lebanon derives from the Hebrew word for white (לָבָן), the Old Testament mentions Lebanon in several places, oh, and Jews come from Israel next door. Today, there are less than 200 Jews left in Lebanon. Lebanon lacks basic infrastructure. Their resorts running on generators. Instead of the state recognizing that Israel is the only country in the region with a growing Christian population, they’re swearing allegiance to their own Islamist oppressors.

One has to wonder if it’s Stockholm syndrome, stupidity, or racism at play. Either way, I’m yet to hear a single Palestine supporter rant about the “apartheid laws” in Lebanon or other states that disenfranchise Arabs. They’re too busy pretending such laws exist in Israel. As many point out, Palestinian ideology focuses entirely on “wherever Jews are.” Jews aren’t in Lebanon. The map of the Palestine fantasy changed from what is now Lebanese, Syrian, and Jordanian territory to just Israel. We can see who suffers most from this ideology.

So, who is Dima Sadek? I didn’t know either, so I did a little research.

Dima Sadek is a prominent Lebanese journalist. She has hosted major news segments and political programs on Lebanese channels, and she’s presented the Miss Lebanon pageant. With a substantial following on social media, she has become a significant voice in Lebanese media.

Lebanon’s discriminatory laws and attitude towards Palestinians isn’t the only hypocritical topic worth discussing. In 2023, Dima Sadek was sentenced to one year in prison and fined 110 million Lebanese pounds (PS that’s like $1,200). This sentence came after Gebran Bassil, head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), accused her of defamation, slander, and inciting sectarian strife for the serious crime of describing their actions as "racist" and "Nazi-like."

Free speech isn’t a universal right in MENA. Sadek knew of the precedent for blasphemy laws in her region. In Lebanon, comedian Nour Hajjar was arrested in 2023 for jokes about the Lebanese army. Hajjar was also arrested for a 2018 comedy sketch that ‘insulted Islam and endangered civil peace.’ His judge was a Sunni Muslim religious authority (Amnesty International)​​ (Legal Agenda)​​ (Human Rights Watch). Mustafa Sbeity, a Lebanese poet, was arrested in late 2017 for a Facebook post that allegedly insulted the Virgin Mary (Amnesty International). In Lebanon, you can’t make jokes about Christianity or Islam. In Israel, one of the most popular shows was called “HaYehudim Baim” (The Jews are Coming), predominantly poking fun at Judaism.

Sadek has not served her prison time (yet). She appealed the decision, which put her in a legal limbo. As long as her appeal is ongoing, she remains free. Sadek’s case sparked widespread outrage and highlighted the declining state of press freedom in Lebanon. However, it’s really par for the course for the region.

Take one of the prominent Pro-Palestine voices in the US, Bassem Youssef, a man called the "Jon Stewart of Egypt" because he hosted a political satire show called Al-Bernameg. Personally, I don’t get why the former heart surgeon touts himself as a comedian, because I associate comedians with jokes. Copying Jon Stewart’s two impressions—high-pitched and whiny or incredulously screaming—does not qualify as a joke. Anyways, in 2013, Youssef faced lawsuits accusing him of insulting Islam, President Mohamed Morsi, and disrupting public order. By 2014, he fled Egypt due to the threat of arrest and worse. He has not returned, nor do I expect him to so long as Palestine exists (Reason.com)​​ (Brookings)​​ (Human Rights First)​.

Again, I’ll highlight some similar examples from Egypt. A 14-year-old Coptic (Christian) boy named Gamal Abdou Massoud was sentenced to three years in prison in 2012 for posting cartoons on Facebook that were deemed insulting to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. In 2014, four Christian minors were sentenced to five years in prison for creating a video that mocked the Islamic State group (Ahram)​​​.

And yet, for some reason, Bassem Youssef, much like Dima Sadek, spends a lot more time ranting about Israel than speaking about censorship and discrimination in their own countries. And we can keep pretending it is because they truly care about Palestinians, except only in the context of blaming Israel. Or we can recognize what would happen if either celeb criticized groups like Palestinian Islamic Jihad or Hamas (Islamic Resistance Movement), when we already know the repercussions of children criticizing ISIL in MENA.

For comparison, Israelis have a long history of freedom to protest like nobody’s business. Even as an avid protester, I am often shocked by the level of freedom in Israel. For example, I couldn’t believe how the state paid to bus in Palestinians to demonstrate in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. I personally witnessed Palestinians attack police officers during these protests, then read they were released the following day from detention. As another example, amid war, it took Israel 6+ months of bureaucracy and politics to get rid of Al Jazeera, an anti-Zionist paper that incites violence, spreads misinformation, occasionally denies the Holocaust… oh, and aided terrorist groups over and over. Feel free to look up the lack of process when Arab states and India decided to get rid of Al Jazeera (Spoiler: They just got rid of them in a day, without any voting).

In January 2023, nationwide protests (in Israel) began against the government's proposed judicial overhaul. They continued weekly until the start of the war in October, more than nine months. By January 2024, they picked back up. Demonstrations occur weekly and have involved hundreds of thousands of participants across various cities, including Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa.

Lebanon, which loves to bash Israel, US and other successful, democratic states, can’t even give its journalists the basic freedom to criticize their own government without facing jail time.

Below is a copy of a MEMRI transcript of Dima Sadek speaking a few days ago, available here: https://www.memri.org/tv/lebanon-journalist-dima-sadek-hizbullah-holds-us-hostage-like-911-passangers

Again, I’m sharing it because it is brave she spoke up about how Hezbolla destroyed and continues to destroy Lebanon. I think her attitude towards Israel is repulsive, and that claiming Israel is the threatening force is a farce. By all accounts, the Islamists, including Hamas and Hezbolla, by way of Islamist occupied Iran and Putin occupied Russia, shot first.

Dima Sadek:

There is nothing left of this country except for Hizbullah. We are in a position that our enemy, Israel, is threatening us: 'If Hizbullah attacks our electricity system in Israel, we will retaliate against the Lebanese electricity infrastructure.' Only then did Israel realize that there is no electricity in Lebanon.

We are in a position where the President of Cyprus sends a complaint to our president, only to find out that Lebanon has no president. Nothing is left of this country – nothing, nobody – except for Hizbullah and its weapons.

Hassan Nasrallah has made serious military threats against a country that is a member of the European Union – Cyprus.

Hizbullah which got us into a war where all scenarios are possible, with a beast called Israel, is now throwing us into a conflict which might lead to all kinds of scenarios – hellish scenarios in a conflict with the European Union.

Do you even realize what you're doing? Are you capable of going into war with the EU? Do you think the EU is like Iraq and Yemen? You in Hizbullah and Iran could not save Al-Assad.

Putin was the only one who managed to save Al-Assad, because he is stronger than you, Iran, and your entire axis.

The same Putin does not know how to save himself from what the EU has been doing to him the past two years. He has been drowning in the Ukrainian swamp for two years, and does not know how to save himself.

Putin, who was the only one who managed to save your axis in the Syrian war, cannot overcome Europe, so how come you are threatening Europe with such confidence?

We are in danger of a hellish, existential war. We are being held hostage. We have been hijacked by a group that has no clue of what is going on in this planet.

We are living with a group of people who do not know how the world order works, how the world's economy and technology work. Worse still, they do not know anything about the world's balance of military power.

Do you know who we resemble? The passengers on the 9/11 airplanes. We are like airplane passengers who do not see what is happening around them. We are being led by one person, and we have no idea where we are heading.

The only thing that we know for sure is that this person is taking us to a catastrophe and certain death.

So, there you have it. Dima Sadek, a journalist who dares to speak her mind in a country where doing so can land you in prison. She even alludes to Russia being behind the regional conflicts! Meanwhile, Israel, the favorite punching bag of Lebanese critics, allows its citizens to protest and criticize freely.

It’s worth repeating, Sadek faces constant threats from her fellow Palestine Supporters. She was raised surrounded by Islamists and Palestine Supporters. Sadek and many others have no option but to blame the Jewish state. Even if Sadek recognized the Islamist militants are the root of all the destruction in her once-prosporous state, she can’t criticize these Islamists without mentioning their shared Jewish scapegoat.

It’s time for Lebanon to take a leaf out of Israel’s book when it comes to freedom of speech. Until then, let’s stand with Dima and all the brave journalists fighting for their right to speak their truth. Hopefully one day their truth talks about the AK47 in the room