Senegal brought home 117 of its citizens from Lebanon on 10/19/24 as the conflict in the Middle East got worse. Hussein Hachem was at the airport to meet his daughter Mariam (whos 11) who had a broken foot. His son (14 years old) didnt make it – he died when their house was bombed.
Hachem said with sadness “I lost everything; my son my house all my dreams.“ He told how he talked to his son just before the bombing: “Dad youʼre going to come get me?“ Ten minutes later‚ there was no house no son.
Senegal has many Lebanese people living there and has connections to Lebanon and Palestine. The countrys foreign minister Yassine Fall said they dont like what Israels doing in Lebanon – bombing civilians and breaking things.
We are very very disappointed to see the world watching a genocide happen under our eyes children being killed children being shot in the head hospitals being bombarded
Fall also talked about how Senegal has been friends with Palestinians for a long time: since 1975 Senegal has been in charge of a UN group for Palestinian rights.
Israel says its not doing genocide – its just protecting itself after Hamas attacked on 10/7/23. That attack killed 1200 people and took 250 hostages (Israel says).
People in Dakar walked in the streets on 10/19/24 to say they dont like what Israels doing in Gaza and Lebanon. They want the fighting to stop