From journalist Hala Jaber on X:

“Lebanon’s Prime Minister attended Ziad Rahbani’s funeral with hollow phrases and a ceremonial badge, failing to honor the dignity and recognition the state denied him in life and death.

No day of mourning.

No flag at half-mast.

No national tribute for one of Lebanon’s greatest artists.

Yet this same state (under its former PM) declared four days of mourning in 2022 for Queen Elizabeth II, a British monarch with no ties to Lebanon. Flags were lowered, embassies marked her death, and officials issued condolences. But for Ziad Rahbani, whose music and words defined Lebanon’s soul? Silence.

This isn’t neglect, it’s erasure. It reveals the leadership’s values and whom they truly serve.

Ziad Rahbani gave Lebanon decades of brilliance: music, theatre, satire, and unflinching honesty. Like his mother, Fairuz, whose voice became Lebanon’s memory, its lullaby and lament, Ziad’s work captured the nation’s spirit. In death, the state offered nothing.

He was right when he said:

“هيدي مش بلد، هيدي قرطة مجانين.”

‘This isn’t a country. It’s a lunatic asylum.’

But then this same leadership failed to honor the passing of Hezbollah’s leader, a significant figure in Lebanon’s political landscape, fearing the disapproval of foreign powers. They stayed silent when Georges Abdallah, a Lebanese activist imprisoned for 41 years in France, returned home. Spineless then, spineless now.

Worst of all, they failed Fairuz. By dishonoring her son, they turned their backs on the voice that held Lebanon together through war, across sects, over generations.

Fairuz is more than a singer, she is Lebanon’s memory, the Arab world’s longing, an untouchable icon. She sang Lebanon into meaning, and they answered with silence. They should be ashamed.

Ziad deserved a nation’s farewell. The people gave him one, mourning in the streets, singing him home from hospital to mountain. But from the so-called leaders? A footnote, a hollow gesture.

That reveals everything about who runs this country and why it’s falling apart.”