A picture of the iconic Lebanese singer, Majida El Roumi. (Credit: Majida El Roumi's X account)
BEIRUT — Lebanese singer Majida El Roumi has been heavily criticized on social media for political comments she made about the situation in Lebanon during a concert in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
"We who come from Lebanon are living our worst nightmares because of the crimes committed by those who are from our country but are not really," Roumi said at her concert in Abu Dhabi
At the end of her concert on Saturday, Roumi said, "We've missed you, we're waiting for you in the summer... our country is still beautiful and we still love it and it is still heaven. No matter what they do to us, all the crimes they do, be sure that the last word is for god."
Al Mayadeen journalist Pierre Abi Saab and many others perceived her comments as being anti-Hezbollah, amidst an ongoing conflict between the group and Israel in southern Lebanon, which started on Oct. 8, the day after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.
"It is clear that the Zionists of the Ibraham regimes have infiltrated you more than the resistance in Lebanon [Hezbollah]," Saab said in a message posted on X on Monday.
Others have supported the artist. LBCI journalist, Yazbek Wehbeh, took to social media to defend Roumi.
"Some people want to teach Majida Roumi the meaning of patriotism and the love of Lebanon and want to classify her as ungrateful. What Majida Roumi gave through art to the country is big, and the stance she made represents a big chunk of people," Wehbe said on X.
After Hamas' Oct. 7th al-Aqsa Flood operation, southern Lebanon has seen daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah.
The iconic Lebanese soprano singer's family come from the southern Lebanese town of Sour. She grew up in Kfarshima, a small town south east of Beirut, which has also been the hometown to many Lebanese singers, musicians, poets and writers. Her father, composer and singer Halim El Roumi, was famed for discovering Lebanon's legendary singer, Fairouz.
Roumi has released many songs about Lebanon and about Beirut. In 2001, she released a single titled "Nachid El Hobb" (The Hymn of Love) using quotes from Lebanese author Gibran Khalil Gibran in the song's lyrics. She performed the song at a UN ceremony in 2001, when she was named Goodwill Ambassador. She said the theme of the song was to promote peace around the world.