GRATITUDE TO ALL WHO SUPPORTED HANDS OFF LEBANON SYDNEY VIGIL
November 25, 2024Yesterday Sydney’s vigil ignited a torch that spread around the world in a wave of Lebanese activism with thousands of our diaspora worldwide standing together, delivering one clear and unmistakable message to ISRAEL – *HANDS OFF LEBANON*.
I am proud and humbled by the success of the Sydney vigil which saw Federal, State and Local Members of Parliament join their voices in a strong call to action against Israel’s violent agression against Lebanon which has caused the senseless killing of more than 3800 civilians and injured over 15,000.
We will be sharing highlights of the vigil and speeches throughout the week, but I wanted to take this moment to thank all those that made the vigil possible and such a success.
First and foremost the Sydney organisers wish to thank @Cumberlandcitycouncil and Mayor Ola Hamed for granting us permission to hold the vigil in Holroyd Gardens. Sincere thanks to Mayor Hamed, who distinguished our community by becoming the first female Muslim mayor in Australia of Lebanese heritage just over one month ago, and her dedicated team for their tireless efforts to ensure the event went off without a hitch.
Special thanks also to @Ozarabmedia for their full coverage of the event, @ABCNews for sending a crew to report on the event, @NSWpolice for providing safety and protection to all attendees, Labor MPs @drandrewcharlton, @jihaddib_mp and Greens Senator @davidshoebridge for their outstanding speeches.
But my biggest thanks go to the Sydney campaign organisers George Bousamra, Chay Gittany and Liz-Deep Jones as well as the youth who joined our working group committee and volunteered their time and skill for the past three weeks to bring this event to life: Sara Skaf, Lara El Chaar, Sarah Saaideh, Nohra Chalouhi, Bakr Mohamad, Alannah Ajami, Assmaa Ajami, Dalal El Katib and Fatima Mourad,
Deep appreciation to Al Awadali Printing for their sponsorship of some of the banners that were used on the day.
Stay tuned for more posts coming soon on this amazing day and the next steps in our #HANDSOFFLEBANON global movement.
#Freelebanon 🇱🇧 #Freepalestine 🇵🇸
English Script:
Daizy Gedeon: Hi everyone! I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who participated in yesterday’s Sydney Vigil. The “Hands Off Lebanon” campaign that we held yesterday in Merrylands at the Holroyd Gardens, and in particular you must know and we are so grateful and excited that our message was very clearly received by the politicians who attended yesterday, including the representative of the Australian Government, Dr. Andrew Charlton, Jihad Dib, another member of the Labor Party in the state, and also David Shoebridge, senator for the Greens party in New South Wales. They were there, they were present, among other dignitaries and members of our Lebanese community and diaspora in Sydney. I can’t thank you enough. The biggest thanks goes to Cumberland Council and mayor Ola Hamed for granting us approval to hold our event and our gathering on your grounds in Holroyd. This whole event would not have been possible without the support of Cumberland Council, and mayor Ola Hamed, who I want to shout out, because she is the first Muslim female in Australia to have been elected mayor in the whole of Australia, and I think that that is a huge statement of where our country is moving. She was only elected a month ago and has already made great inroads in the Cumberland City Council area, which is a large part of where a lot of Lebanese live. So, thank you to everyone. Thank you to all of our sponsors, and especially Oz-Arab Media, who were there to cover the entire event, and I’ll be thanking many more supporters in my caption. But thank you everyone for being there.
