Ziad Rahbani during a concert in Saida, on October 9, 2014. (Credit: Ali Hashisho/Reuters.)
BEIRUT — The day after the announcement of the death of the great Lebanese artist Ziad Rahbani, whose vision, innovation, criticism, irony, and genius have been praised since Saturday by the political and artistic worlds, new reactions have poured in on social media and in the media.
Among these wide-ranging tributes, which have managed to bring together around one figure parties that seemed irreconcilable, one stands out as a discordant note: the tribute paid to the composer, musician, and playwright by the Arabic-speaking spokesperson of the Israeli army, Avichay Adraee.
Rahbani was famously opposed to the Israeli occupation, even moving in leftist circles advocating for resistance against Israel. Hezbollah also paid tribute to him on Saturday, following in the footsteps of virtually all other parties on the Lebanese political spectrum.
"Lebanon bids farewell to the great artist Ziad Rahbani, a phenomenon of free spirit in a country that has always been a prisoner of words and truth," Avichay Adraee wrote in Arabic on X.
He paid tribute to the artist who "spoke the truth when everyone else was silent" and lamented the "loss of an icon" and "the voice of a free conscience, the pulse of the streets, and the mockery of an intellectual who was never afraid of the truth."
Israel was his 'number one enemy'
Under the post, hundreds of comments appeared, reminding the spokesperson that the late artist saw himself as a 'resistant' and that Israel was his 'number one enemy.'
"Let’s not forget Ziad Rahbani’s famous statements about resisting Israel, which you’re trying to brush aside," one user accused, denouncing an attempt to "get closer" to the Lebanese people by using a figure as unifying as the singer.
Along with the message, the user posted a phrase said to have been spoken by the artist, stating that it is impossible to "build a state with Israel at the gates": "You cannot have freedom and justice while they make you choose between your security and your dignity," he allegedly added.
This sentence, whose origin was not immediately clear, has been repeatedly cited on resistance-supporting accounts and social media to pay homage to Rahbani since Saturday morning.
Witticisms that became 'popular proverbs'
Moreover, other tributes have been paid to the late artist, notably from former president Michel Aoun, who spoke of the "painful loss of a creator who transformed our suffering into laughter, our bitter reality into a stage where the laughter of the Lebanese resounded in the face of the harsh truth.
"Your language has entered the collective memory and has become popular proverbs valid through the ages," he added on X.
Jack Lang, former French culture minister and current president of the Institute of the Arab World, recalled the "son of the legendary Fairouz," who "cast a tender and sharp gaze upon the world, blending satire, poetry, and disenchantment," and "gave voice to silences and music to anger."
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