Large crowd attended bintjbeil.org’s second annual iftar dinner in Dearborn, honoring 10 women for their distinguished contributions
Hassan Baydoun, Abbas Shehab and Mayor Hammoud presenting an award to a relative of the late Fay Awada, who was one of the honorees. – Photos by Abbas Shehab

Large crowd attended bintjbeil.org’s second annual iftar dinner in Dearborn, honoring 10 women for their distinguished contributions

Posted: Friday 03.29.2024 7:44 am Community, Palestine, U.S.A

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DEARBORN — On the 21st anniversary of its founding last Thursday, the well known Lebanese social media site BintJbeil.org held its annual iftar dinner in the Summit Banquet Center. Officials with the organization estimated that close to 1,000 guests attended the dinner, including elected officials and community leaders.

The event’s speakers shed light on the importance of the holy month of Ramadan and its religious and humanitarian meanings. They praised the role that bintjbeil.org plays in covering news and developing events in Lebanon, the region and the Lebanese diaspora around the world.

During the event  — which coincided with Mother’s Day in the Middle East — the organization honored 10 mothers in the Dearborn area for their  distinguished contribution to public life and to the community. The list of honorees included Salwa Charara, Nehmat Haidous Turfe, Fatima Bazzi Faraj, Iman Ali Ahmed, Inaya Soufian Shehab, Nuha Haidous, Fatima Fouani, Leila Tlais, Rowayda Ozeir and the late Fay Awada, who passed away recently and was hailed as “Mashghara’s shining moon in America, and an Arab American ambassador to humanity.”

The iftar dinner, which was emceed by journalist Ali Mansour, was attended by Deputy Wayne County Executive Asaad Turfe, Wayne County Treasurer Eric Sabree, Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi, City Council members from Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, Wayne Commissioners Al Haidus and Sam Baydoun, Dearborn Chief  Judge Sam Salamey, businessmen and representatives of religious, community and civil society organizations.

The event included a videotape presentation of the most prominent accomplishments in the bintjbeil.org journey over the past two decades, and its future plans for the media platform for the next decade, led by the organization’s founder and president Hassan Baydoun, and its local representative Abbas Shehab.

Baydoun expressed his appreciation for the hospitality and trust that the Lebanese American community has given to his media platform, pointing out that the number of guests attending the iftar dinner “exceeded the expectations of the organizers.” 

“We have decided to hold this iftar dinner for the second time in the city of Dearborn to give back to our Arab American community, which has contributed to the success of our mission over the past two decades,” he said.

Baydoun said that bintjbeil.org held its first iftar — which honored Arab media figures in the Detroit area — in the “capital of Arab Americans” in 2018, explaining that the iftar events it holds, whether here or in Lebanon, always include initiatives to honor individuals and activists in all fields. It also supports the organization’s humanitarian projects inside and outside Lebanon.

BintJbeil.org was established in 2003 and is mainly focused on local Lebanese affairs and the Lebanese in the diaspora. The website is visited daily by approximately half a million browsers from all regions of Lebanon and the world, according to the organization’s introductory page on the web.
Hassan Baydoun, Abbas Shehab and Mayor Hammoud presenting an award to a relative of the late Fay Awada, who was one of the honorees. – Photos by Abbas Shehab

Hassan Baydoun, Abbas Shehab and Mayor Hammoud presenting an award to a relative of the late Fay Awada, who was one of the honorees. – Photos by Abbas Shehab

All eyes on Dearborn
Siblani said that the Arab American community is living one of the most difficult and sad times due to the continuation of the devastating war against the Palestinian people in the besieged Gaza Strip. He pointed to the cruelty of this war on the Palestinian civilians, which far exceeds in its brutality the previous wars we Arab Americans lived through, whether during the Israeli attack on Lebanon in July 2006 and more tragic than the Naksa in 1967 and even the Nakba in 1948.
“The Israeli brutality and the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza stunned the entire world,” he said.
Siblani praised the steadfastness of the besieged residents in the Gaza Strip in face of the Israeli brutality, which made Gaza a symbol of honor and dignity to all human beings, not just Arabs and Muslims. He pointed out that the support of the Arab and Muslim American communities in the Dearborn area for the Gazans and their potential political influence in the upcoming presidential election in November attracted unparalleled media attention during the presidential primary in February.
The Arab American News Publisher Osama Siblani speaks at the iftar dinner.

The Arab American News Publisher Osama Siblani speaks at the iftar dinner.

“We should feel proud, specifically here in Dearborn, because the 50 American states, 350 million Americans, as well as all the American media and the White House had their eyes on Dearborn last February,” he said. “And their eyes will certainly remain on our city until November.”
Siblani said that Dearborn has become America’s political destination.
“The next president will be the president that Arab and Muslim Americans support and vote for in November, and the losing candidate will be the candidate that our community and our allies reject,” he said, explaining that Michigan, “as a swing state”, will play a decisive role in determining who will occupy the White House for the next four years.
“Next November, the votes of Arab and Muslim Americans in the Great Lakes State will be the deciding factor in this crucial presidential race,” he said.
Siblani called on Arab and Muslim Americans to live up to their historical responsibilities in November and encouraged them to turn out en masse at the polls to make their voices heard where it counts — in the ballot boxes — “out of respect and in solidarity with the thousands of martyrs in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.
“In February, the eyes of America, the White House, and the entire world were focused on us,” he said. “But the numbers did not reach the level of the sacrifices of the Palestinians, and we must avoid what happened last February, despite its importance and political and electoral symbolism.”
He finished with a key question.
“Aren’t the tens of thousands of martyrs in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria worth the sacrifice of few minutes of our time in order to go to the polling stations and cast our votes?”

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