An Israeli military spokesperson has posted on his social media the lyrics of Fairouz’s popular Bhebbak Ya Lebnan song, altered to celebrate Israel.
Bhebbak Ya Lebnan (I Love You, Lebanon) is one of Fairouz‘s most iconic songs and one that holds great meaning and value in the eyes of the Lebanese people. It is a celebration of Lebanon and everything that makes it unique, and its lyrics reflect that.
“I love you, Israel. My homeland, I love you. From your north to your south, across the plains, I love you,” Avichay Adraee, a Lieutenant Colonel who heads the Arab media division of the Israeli military, wrote on his Facebook page around midnight Thursday.
The original lyrics, which, needless to say, addressed Lebanon instead of Israel, were written by the Rahbani Brothers, who also composed the 1973 patriotic song,
The Facebook post generated a lot of negative engagement from Lebanese and Arab people on the platform, most notably passive-aggressive sarcastic comments.
“Even the songs are stolen,” several users wrote, another version of the comment being “You stole a country, you won’t fail to steal song lyrics.”
“Oh dear, are you ill again?” another disgruntled user commented, addressing the military man.
Notably, this is not the first time Adraee has used Fairouz song lyrics to praise Israel.
Last month, he posted a video on his Twitter page showing an Israeli soldier singing the same song while replacing mentions of “Lebanon” with “Israel.” The video also received its fair share of backlash.
