Fadi Abboud, former tourism minister, suggested that the Beirut blast site should be turned into a “touristic attraction” because “the silos would attract more people than the Baalbek citadel.”
The former FPM minister pitched his insensitive idea during his interview on “Sar El Waet” with Journalist Marcel Ghanem.
It certainly caused an outrage. Traumatically affected by the disastrous port explosion that caused so many losses, Lebanese residents did not stay silent, publicly voicing out their justified opinion on the matter.
Twitter user Sabine Jean Youssef wrote to Abboud saying: “If the body parts of the victims are cheap to you and the people who follow your footsteps, that’s not the case for us as they are extremely dear to our hearts. What is this debauchery, my God!”
Instead of explaining his point of view or opinion in that matter, former Minister Abboud angrily replied accusing her of insulting him. “Your words are tainted with prejudices! What do you know about me and my opinion of the terrible tragedy when I have been alerted by the chaos in the Beirut Port since the 1990s? Insulting people and accusing them in this way expresses deep hatred.”
Truth is, it was enough for the people to know about his expressed opinion about the site to get not only outraged but to feel insulted by him in the pain they are still living.
It’s extremely unfortunate that a place where more than 200 people were killed, 7,000 were injured, and 7 are still missing, is thought of as a touristic attraction.
In another controversial statement on Twitter, the former minister tried to defend his idea by labeling people as “short-sighted” to remember the victims “with the dirt of the port.”
He said: “Short-sighted people want to remember the victims of the blast with the noise of trucks and the dirt of the port.”
“I want to turn the nonsense into a shrine so that the world can remember the tragedy of 8/4/2020. This civilized idea exists in all countries to honor their victims,” he added.
Meanwhile, in a more respectful stance, architect Carlos Moubarak is proposing to turn the destroyed port into “a dynamic, sensitive, and spiritual memorial infrastructure in reminiscence of this tragic event.”
This would be the likes done in countries that were impacted by a mass-murder tragedy, notably the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York City and the Berlin Memorial for the Jewish victims of the Nazi party.
These memorials have the engraved names of the victims, honoring them, so they and the tragedy will never be forgotten for generations to come.
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